Waking Up In Vegas (Gilmore Girls)
by G-Girl2017
Summary: Rory and Logan haven't seen each other since the ill-fated proposal at Rory's graduation almost eight years - what will happen when they suddenly find themselves reconnecting after all that time?
1. Chapter One

_December 2014_

As she gracefully stepped out of the car, Rory smoothed down the silver satin dress that she had picked out especially for the holiday season. It had been quite a while since she had graced one of her grandparent's festive parties but here she was, once again. Rory was in between jobs, having spent some time freelancing and now she was back in the area for the holidays, to spend some time with her family. Lorelai thought Rory was crazy for even considering to make an appearance at the Gilmore's Christmas party however, she didn't have a lot else planned and so she had accepted the invitation to attend.

Rory had however known that if she didn't turn up to the party with a date on her arm then she would have been on the receiving end of many pitiful looks from her grandmothers DAR ladies and would have to fend off numerous questions about her love life, or lack of it. Thankfully Rory had just the person waiting in the wings for such an occasion and for the party, she had asked Ryan, a friend that she had met through work to come along with her. He was never one to turn down a free salmon puff and they had actually gone out together once or twice in the past when they had first got to know each other. Nothing had really ever developed between them other than a quick drunken fumble at the end of the night but as they were more than comfortable in each other's company, they had kind of become each other's, go-to person and she knew that whatever happened, he'd no doubt make the evening slightly more bearable for her.

If she was being completely honest, there was another reason that Rory didn't really want to turn up to the party on her own and that was because she knew that her ex-boyfriend, Logan Huntzberger, was going to be in attendance. Emily hadn't been able to contain herself when she gleefully tipped Rory off that he'd be there, she had been holding onto the hope that one day the two of them would reconcile. Rory didn't exactly know how she felt about seeing Logan again. At best, it was a mixture of nerves and excitement along with a healthy dose of curiosity. Their break up had been traumatic and had taken her along time to get over. Although she had been the one who had turned down the marriage proposal, it wasn't how she had wanted their relationship to end. Rory had missed Logan for a long time until finally, she had managed to find a way to push him as far to the back of her mind as was humanly possible. Sure, the temptation to Google him often struck, especially late at night after a glass of wine or two but somehow she had always managed to resist temptation. Even when Facebook helpfully suggested that he was someone she might know, while the desire to know more about him was all encompassing, she knew there was no way that she could bring herself to press the 'Add Friend' button. Partly she was afraid of the rejection from him, but there was also another part of her that just didn't want to know how happy and successful his life had been without her in it.

* * *

Rory and Ryan walked into the already busy party. She nervously cast a cursory glance around the room as she held on to Ryan's arm.

"Rory! You made it!" Emily said happily as she caught sight of her granddaughter just walking into the room. "And aren't you a sight for sore eyes. That dress is just perfect on you. And who is this?" Emily said as she looked at the good looking man stood next to Rory.

"This is Ryan. Ryan, this is grandma" she smiled as she introduced them to each other. Rory knew at some point she'd be interrogated to within an inch of her life about the man that she had turned up with but thankfully, she knew that wouldn't happen at the party.

"It's nice to meet you, Ryan," Emily said curtly. "Okay, I'm going to go and check on the caterers," she said as she walked away.

"Did I say something wrong…actually, in fact, I said nothing at all!" Ryan looked at Rory with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, believe me, you don't have to say a word. It's not about you…" Rory waved her hand. "Forget about it. Now, I need a drink…" she said as she walked over to the bar. "Where are you going?" she said as she noticed that Ryan wasn't following her.

"Food!" he shrugged "Those salmon puffs are calling my name…" he winked.

Rory shook her head and ordered herself a martini, asking the bartender to make it a strong one. As she waited for her drink to be prepared she carefully scanned the room but there was no sign of the person that she was looking for. Rory sighed and relaxed a little. She didn't know really know why she was so worked up or why she had made an extra effort getting ready that evening. She kind of hated herself a little for that. What was she expecting? She didn't really know.

She picked up her drink and slowly walked over to admire the spectacular Christmas tree in the corner of the room, hoping to avoid her grandmother's friends for as long as possible. As she stood sipping her extra-strong martini, and occasionally staring into the bottom of her glass, swirling the olive around, she felt someone come up behind her. Rory didn't have to look up. She knew exactly who was close to her from the hairs that stood up on the back of her neck.

"Whatever answer you're looking for Ace, I'm not sure you're going to find it in there…"

Rory took a deep breath before she turned around and fixed on a smile. "Logan, it's really good to see you."

"It's good to see you too. What's it been…six, seven years?" he asked as he leaned in and kissed her chastely on the cheek.

"Yeah, about seven I think" Rory smiled.

She could feel her cheeks pinking a little and it felt like everyone in the room was looking at them – many of them had been there the night of Logan's proposal and they had been the talk of the town for months afterwards. She knew that she was just being paranoid though, they were old news now. The last time that their paths had crossed had been a somewhat awkward meeting not too long after her graduation, at a party for one of their joint friends. Rory had found it a pretty painful experience and from that point forward she had decided to decline future invites and eventually, as they were more Logan's friends than hers, the invites just stopped coming. She had been sad that she had lost those people from her life but she had accepted that was the way it was, but thankfully through the joys of modern technology and Facebook, she had recently reconnected with the girls and had enjoyed spending time with them again over the past year or so, when their busy schedules allowed.

"You look really good," Logan said "I take it life is treating you well?" he asked her.

"Well, I can't complain too much" she smiled.

Rory looked at her ex-boyfriend stood in front of her. He looked good. Too good. When he had leaned in and kissed her she had to do everything to stop herself grabbing hold of him to inhale his scent for a moment longer. Logan had always smelled good but the familiarity had almost made her go weak at the knees.

Logan noticed that Rory was a little guarded and she didn't seem like she wanted to be giving much away about herself. He had been intrigued when he'd heard that she'd be at the party – it was really one of the main reasons he was there. Rory had been a bit of an enigma for him, he'd been surprised that their paths had never crossed more frequently but they both had jobs that saw them travelling often and after they'd split up she had kind of dropped out of their social circle which was understandable. Logan had followed bits of her work online and had heard snippets from the girls over the past year or so but he was always reluctant to ask for more information. He hadn't wanted anyone to think that he was still hung up on her. And he wasn't really, he had moved on but he knew that deep down, she was the only woman he had ever loved and she was always going to have that pull. What wasn't helping him tonight was the fact that she looked dropped dead gorgeous, even better than he had remembered.

"So are you back in the area for good?" he asked.

"Oh, no. I'm just here for the holidays, I travel around a fair bit these days but I've got some downtime so…" Rory trailed off.

"Right, of course, the intrepid reporter. I've seen some of your stuff online…" he said with a smile.

"I hope it's some of my better stuff. It's not always easy writing on the road. It's hard to concentrate sometimes. What about you?" Rory shrugged "Where are you based these days…are you still in California?" she asked a little hesitantly. She didn't really know whether the subject of California would still be a little sensitive for him after all these years.

Logan shook his head "No, I am back living in London these days. I work with my dad again…" he added in way of explanation.

"Really?" Rory said in surprise with a raised eyebrow. She'd had known that he was spending time in London, she'd heard it from Rosemary but she'd never asked any more about it.

"Yeah," Logan laughed "It's all good though. I never really intended to be back working at HPG but sometimes life doesn't turn out the way you expected does it?"

Rory bit her lip a little "No, it doesn't" she wrinkled her nose and smiled.

"So…are you ever in London with work?" he asked.

"Only very occasionally," Rory said with a smile. She caught herself flirtatiously twiddling with her hair and cursed herself for giving off such a telltale sign.

"Well, why don't you look me up next time, we should get together, catch up properly," Logan said handing her his card with his number on.

"Sure, I'd like that" Rory smiled as she looked at the card he had handed her before popping it into her sequined clutch bag. "I guess, I had better go, I think he needs rescuing" she gestured over to where Ryan had been cornered by her grandmother's cousin Marion.

"Oh yeah of course. I don't want to monopolize all your time. Boyfriend?" Logan asked.

Rory was surprised that Logan had asked but she smiled at him and shook her head. "No, he's just a friend. Trying to keep the heat off, you know?"

"Oh I know" Logan smiled. He knew too well what she meant. He'd turned up at enough of his parent's parties dateless. "Well, take care Rory and don't be a stranger!" he said as he leaned in to kiss her goodbye. "I mean it, call me up if you're ever in town."

She nodded. "I will do. It was good to see you, Logan."

As much as she really wanted to, there was no way Rory could ignore the sparks that had flown as Logan had gently placed his hand on the small of her back as he had kissed her cheek. She wondered if Logan had felt it too but watching him now, stood on the other side of the room, he seemed to be completely unaffected by her, while she struggled to rest her eyes anywhere else.

As the party came to a close, Rory flopped down into the car next to Ryan who was her designated driver for the evening. He turned to look at her as she closed her eyes and pressed her head back against the seat.

"What's up with you? And, tell me, who was that guy you were flirting outrageously with tonight?" Ryan asked as he pulled the car away from her grandparent's house.

Rory opened her eyes and looked at him aghast. "I was not flirting with him!"

"Oh please! I've seen your moves Ror, I've been on the receiving end of them remember…" he teased. "A little hair twiddling here, a gentle touch on the arm there…"

She slapped him playfully. "Be quiet!"

"So come on…let's hear it? Who is the guy?" Ryan pressed on.

Rory sighed and pursed her lips. "The guy…is my ex-boyfriend, from college. I've not seen him in years until tonight that is" she said.

"A significant ex?" Ryan asked.

She shrugged and looked at him. "Well, I guess, yes. I mean, we used to live together when we were at Yale….and he kind of proposed to me" Rory said as she wrinkled her nose.

"So…yes, pretty significant. And what does that mean he kind of proposed to you? He either did or he didn't!" Ryan laughed.

"He did, yes, he proposed to me…and I said I couldn't marry him at that point because I wanted to concentrate on my career and didn't want to get caught up in the whole Huntzberger thing, so we split up" she said matter of factly.

"What Huntzberger thing…?" Ryan said. Being in the industry he was well aware of the family's importance and significance.

"He IS a Huntzberger, he's the son of Mitchum Huntzberger, you know the newspaper magnate" Rory rolled her eyes.

"Really! Wow Rory, you really do move in high circles. And? So now what?" he asked.

"And….nothing!" Rory shook her head. "We've not seen in a long time, we were just catching up a little," she said, as she tried to ignore the fact that when Logan had touched her it had felt like electricity was coursing through her veins.

"Right…," Ryan said sceptically. "It didn't look like nothing from where I was standing"

"Aww, are you jealous Ry?" Rory teased.

"That ship has most definitely sailed" Ryan shook his head at his friend.

* * *

Ryan pulled up the car outside Lorelai's house in Stars Hollow where he was dropping Rory off for the holidays before he headed back to his own home in Bridgeport.

Rory walked up the steps to the house and opened the door to find Lorelai still up in the kitchen, sitting at the table eating her way through the best part of a boysenberry pie.

"Pie?" Lorelai offered as Rory walked into the kitchen.

"You're still up? Not waiting for me I hope…." Rory said as she poured herself a coffee.

"Couldn't sleep. Plus I wanted to hear about the horrors of the party tonight…there was surely some scandal within the DAR or terrible mix-up with the caterers. Tell me, did my mother have any staff left by the end of the night?" Lorelai asked gleefully.

"You know mom, if you were so interested in the party, you could have just come along…" Rory said as she dug a fork into the pie.

"I couldn't" Lorelai shrugged. "Sick kid, what can you do?"

"So, convenient" Rory laughed.

Her mom, Lorelai and her boyfriend Luke had married in a whirlwind ceremony shortly after Rory had graduated from Yale. They'd had a tumultuous relationship but had finally reconciled at Rory's going away party and not long after the wedding, a surprise bundle in the shape of Theo, Rory's little brother had arrived in their lives. Rory had been so happy for her mom, that she was finally getting a shot at happiness.

"So what DID I miss?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, you mean aside from me just turning into a blushing teenager in front of Logan…" Rory rolled her eyes.

Lorelai raised an eyebrow "Huntzberger?"

"The one and only" Rory said as she pushed the pie away.

"Did you know he was going to be there?" her mom asked her.

"Yeah…grandma told me" Rory admitted.

"Ah, so that explains the dress!" Lorelai smiled.

Rory picked up a napkin and threw it at her mom across the table. She knew her mom could read her like a book.

"So, Logan, huh. How was he?" Lorelai asked.

"He was good. He's back working with his dad and he lives in London now" Rory said.

Lorelai looked at her daughter as she tried to read her expression. "And? That's all?"

"Yes, mom, that's all…" she sighed.

"How did he look? You always swooned for Logan, was he still swoon-worthy?" her mom wriggled her eyebrows at her daughter.

Rory stood up and shook her head "And on that note…I'm off to bed."

"Spoilsport!" Lorelai called after her.

* * *

A/N: Here is the first chapter of my new story. I toyed with getting a lot written before I started posting it but then discovered I needed the motivation and validation from you guys to keep me writing, haha!

A few important points. This story is set after S7. I am pretending the Revival never happened but I may borrow a few things from it like names, situations etc… We're approximately eight years post-S7 and Rory has grown up a fair amount. The first few chapters are going to leap forward months at at time before we get into the present.

Any questions about this story - please ask, I'll try to answer. I look forward to your feedback!


	2. Chapter Two

**_June 2015_**

When Rory and Logan had not-quite-so-accidentally bumped into each other at her grandmothers Christmas party back in December, they had, of course, both meant well and were quite sincere about getting together and catching up sometime in the future. However, for whatever reason, it never quite happened for them. Despite the extensive travelling that they both did over the next few months, neither of them ever found themselves in the right place, at the right time, that was until Rory found herself in London on a work trip some six months later.

Rory was sitting relaxing in the room at her London hotel after a busy day researching for an article. She was in town working a piece she was putting together for Conde Nast Traveler magazine on the most romantic restaurants in London and she'd never felt less inadequate visiting these supposed venues for love while completely on her own. After another long day traipsing around London and writing up her notes she was just about ready to let her hair down. Rory truly loved travelling for her job but it had sometimes turned out to be a lonely and isolating experience. She often found herself in some of the nicest cities in the world but with nobody there to share it with, the excitement waned pretty quickly. As she looked out of the window down onto the Mayfair streets below, she toyed with the iPhone in her hand. Perhaps it was finally time for that catch-up with Logan.

After they had spoken to each other at the Christmas party, Rory had woken up the next to a Facebook friend request from Logan. After deliberating over it for a while, she had tentatively accepted the request. As much as she'd always wanted to avoid knowing too much about Logan's life, she had of course been seriously intrigued once his profile was all opened up to her and she had then lost several hours of her life poring over his photos to see exactly what it was that he had been up to over the past few years. Rory had smiled as she had flicked through the photos of Logan and his old friends, who by the look of it, still enjoyed getting up to their old Life and Death Brigade style antics. There was the odd family photo – Honor looked well – and the occasional photo of Logan with his arm around a girl, but nobody that appeared too often, leading her to believe that he wasn't currently in a serious relationship. Rory felt a little bit ashamed and going through his photos in such detail but she suspected that he would probably do the same with hers.

Since December, they'd since exchanged the odd message or left a friendly comment for the other on Facebook, so even though she was a little hesitant, she didn't really feel that awkward about calling to let him know she was in town. It was just a friendly thing. No awkwardness required. Rory dialled the number and waited for him to answer.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Rory Gilmore, as I live and breathe! This is a call that I never thought would come!" Logan said with a smile as he answered the call.

"There's no need for sarcasm Huntzberger, I can hang up again you know…" Rory teased.

"No! Don't do that. What can I do for you?" he asked. He was genuinely curious as to where this call was going to lead.

"Well, I happen to be in town for a couple of days and I wondered if you wanted to perhaps meet for a drink and catch up like we promised to," she said confidently.

Logan paused for a moment. He knew that it would be hard to be around Rory without wanting to touch her, she had always had that effect on him, and at the Christmas party that pull had been stronger than ever, but he was more than a little intrigued to get to know what she was up to these days and this was his chance.

"Absolutely, when is good for you?" he asked.

"How about now?" Rory said.

"Now it is. Where are you?" Logan said before he spoke to his driver to let him know his plans were changing.

Rory smiled. "I'm staying at The Connaught in Mayfair. I'll meet you in the Coburg Bar downstairs"

"I'll be there in half an hour," Logan said.

Rory ended the call and took a deep breath. She put her iPhone down on the bedside table before she stepped into the shower and got herself changed quickly. As she zipped up her little black dress and slid her feet into some heels, she looked at herself in the full-length mirror and pursed her lips at herself. For some reason, she felt like she was just about to fall straight down the rabbit hole and while she was very aware that now was the time to stop that tumble into the abyss from happening if she really wanted to avoid it, she knew that she couldn't, or wouldn't. Her curiosity was getting the better of her.

* * *

Rory took the elevator and headed downstairs to the bar. When she walked in she found Logan already there, sitting at a table with drinks for them.

"How on earth did you beat me here? I was literally upstairs," she smiled at him as he stood up to greet her with a kiss.

"Punctuality is one of my strong points" he laughed. "You look great Rory," he said casting an appreciative eye over her.

"Thanks. Champagne? What's the occasion?" Rory asked as she sat down next to him.

"We don't need an occasion to drink champagne do we? " he said as he poured her a glass. "So, we're averaging six months for a date then huh?"

"This is SO not a date Logan" Rory laughed "I would have called sooner but I've been travelling a lot…" she trailed off. It was the truth, her freelance work had seen her all over the place in recent months.

Logan nodded at her. "I know! I've been reading your work online. Formenta, Provence, Montauk…"

"Stalking me Huntzberger? I'm impressed…and a little scared" she teased as she sipped her champagne. "It's been a really busy few months. I've been doing a lot of freelance work for Conde Nast but I know there is an Assistant Editor position coming soon and I really want to get a staff position, so got to put the hours in at the moment" she rolled her eyes.

"Life on the road not working out for you?" Logan looked at her questioningly. Rory had always wanted to travel with work, that was her thing and one of the reasons that they'd gone their separate ways back at graduation. She wasn't about to be pinned down to one place.

"It's fun, it's been a lot of fun" she nodded "but it's pretty exhausting and think I'd be happy to sit still for a while now, maybe finally lay down some roots. What about you? I was a little surprised when you said that you were back with HPG…"

When Logan had taken the steps to move away from his father all those years ago, Rory had been so proud of him. It hadn't been an easy thing to do to turn his back on his preordained life. She so hoped that he hadn't been dragged back there against his will.

"He made me an offer I couldn't refuse" Logan smirked.

"Mitchum has finally joined the mob?" Rory joked.

"Not quite…" Logan smirked "It was just the right thing at the right time. I was growing a bit bored of what I was doing in California but had obviously proved myself enough to daddy and he asked me to come back and offered me the position of Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President"

"And you enjoy it right?" Rory looked at him carefully.

"Yeah, you know, it's been a time of big change in our industry. Digital and tech are the two things I am passionate about. It's been great to be able to take what I learned and apply to the family business and it's always been a bit of a thrill, playing with big boys, it's what keeps it exciting." Logan admitted.

"If you're happy, then that's great," Rory said and she really meant it. Though their break-up had been difficult, she still only ever wanted him to be happy.

They sat and talked casually for a little while, covering most of the safer topics like work and their families but after a couple more glasses of champagne, Logan decided that he couldn't beat around the bush for much longer. He needed more insight into Rory's life.

"So, come on, we may as well just get it out there…what about your personal life? Any significant others?" he asked.

Rory raised an eyebrow at the question. "You really want to go there? Okay" she shrugged. "Well, currently, official status is that I'm single, have been for a while. I mean, there have been a few….I don't know what you would call them, I guess not relationships…flings? But they were short lived. I go on dates but it's hard trying to maintain anything more than that when you're moving around as much as I do. What about you? I don't see a ring on your finger?" she asked as she picked up her champagne.

"Not met that someone special yet" he smiled "but I guess I've not exactly been looking for it either if I happen to meet someone then great in the meantime…"

"…you're just happy having fun, right? Same here" she said as she emptied her glass.

"I never really took you for the no-strings kind of girl" Logan smiled "I mean, I know we tried that but it wasn't you was it?" he said as he remembered back to their failed attempt at being casual all those years ago.

"Things change, people change," Rory said.

She didn't really want to admit to Logan that she'd actually become very good at the whole no-strings thing. One-night stands had never really been her thing but doing the casual dating thing and not tying herself down to any one man in particular, that she had nailed.

"Well that's the second bottle of champagne gone, do you want another drink or…" Logan paused. He wasn't really sure what he was asking. He knew that he wanted but did she want the same?

Rory smiled "It's getting late, I should probably call it a night now…" she said as she fiddled with her hair.

Logan nodded "Time flies when you're having fun huh. I'll walk you to your room" he said as he stood up.

"This is a very reputable hotel Logan, I doubt anything is going to happen to me on the way back to my room…" Rory said as she looked up at him.

"I was brought up proper. What on earth would my mother say if I were to forget my manners and not see a lady safely to her door!" Logan teased.

"I am sure that your mother would have quite a lot to say if she knew you were here with me," Rory said as she stood up and took his arm. "But as you wish," she said as he led her out of the bar and they took the elevator upstairs to her room.

Rory stood quietly next to Logan in the elevator. She was starting to feel the effects of the champagne combining with a little nervous energy. She knew as soon as she put her key in the door the jig was going to be well and truly up. They'd been working up to this point all evening – she would be lying to herself if she said that it wasn't how she had hoped the night would end when she had called him earlier. Rory had thought about Logan for the past six months and she knew that she was never going to get past the desire to feel him on her body again, she needed closure on this. Sure, past this one night there really wasn't much chance of them being together and she knew that maybe tomorrow, in the cold light of day she'd regret going there one more time with him but tomorrow she could blame the champagne. Tomorrow was another day. Right now, she knew exactly what she wanted to happen – what needed to happen.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you SO much for the support yesterday on Chapter 1, it really means a lot. Thank you thank you thank you. Did I give you fair warning that this story was going to get a bit smutty? Because obviously it will...**

 **Just to answer a few questions as I did tell you to ask away...**

 **Jordana60 - Ryan and Rory are just friends. Drunken fumble - let's just say they fooled around but didn't take it too far before realizing they were better as friends. Rory is definitely a bit more headstrong and confident in this story!**

 **chelsbaby - I'm going to 'borrow' a few little bits from the Revival, not entirely sure how much yet, but yes Odette may well make an appearance...**


	3. Chapter Three

Rory took a deep breath as she put the key into the lock of her hotel room. She knew that there was pretty much no going back now, not that she wanted to. She slowly opened the door to her room and paused as she turned to look at Logan for a moment.

"Are you…coming in?" she asked, as she looked him straight in the eyes.

It was a heavily loaded question and they both knew it. Logan looked at Rory. He knew that if he walked away from her now then this opportunity might never come up again, it had taken them years to actually get to this point and they'd lost none of their sexual spark in that time. On the other hand, were they just opening themselves up to more hurt? If his past experiences had taught him anything, it was that when it came to Rory, these things had a habit of becoming bigger than them; it turned into something that they both struggled to control. Logan shook the thoughts out of his head. Why was he over-thinking this? They were both consenting adults and he had done the one-night stand thing dozens of times before, so he could certainly do it with Rory. He wordlessly followed her into the hotel room and Rory closed the door behind them.

"Do you want a drink?" Rory asked as she kicked off her shoes.

"Not really," Logan said without taking his eyes off her. "Do you?"

Rory bit her lip and shook her head. A drink was the last thing she wanted, that was just going to take up precious time.

Without another thought or word being uttered between them, Logan quickly had Rory pressed up against the wall of the hotel room, his mouth against hers, their tongues hungrily dancing together as their hands frantically roamed over each other's bodies. They had both imagined this moment since they had first seen each other last Christmas and there was no way either of them were going to stop it from happening.

"I know this is probably a really bad idea, but...you have no idea how much I want you right now" Logan breathed into her ear.

"You're right, I have no idea at all. Why don't you show me how much?" she asked suggestively.

It wasn't too long before their excess clothing was quickly strewn across the floor of her hotel room. Rory stepped out of her dress and stood in front of Logan in just black lace bra and panties. The sight of her stood there in front of him made his breath hitch. It had been a long time since they'd been together in this way and he was taken aback at just how much more confidence she had. He had never expected to see her this way again, but she was just as beautiful, maybe more so than the last time he had made love to her.

Rory continued to undo Logan's shirt and pants and he removed them to join her clothes on the floor before he slowly spun her around. Goosebumps spread across her body as she felt his warm breath on her neck as he slowly feathered light kisses down to her shoulder, his hand caressing her breasts gently through the lace of her bra. He unfastened it and slid it off her as he moved his hands around to tweak her nipples. She could feel his kisses moving further down her back, his tongue tracing down her spine and she placed her hands against the wall to steady herself as his hands ran down the side of her body and to the top of her panties. Logan slid his finger under the waistband and used his finger to trail a path down to where he could feel her wetness. The fact that she was this ready for him, that she clearly wanted him as much as he wanted her, excited him as he rubbed her gently over the lace of her panties causing her to moan softly.

Logan knelt down in front of Rory and slowly peeled her panties off her. He roughly pulled her hips closer to him. He just couldn't wait any longer to touch and taste her and she wanted the same. At the moment his tongue made contact with the place she so badly needed it to, Rory let out a loud gasp, her moans filling the room as he licked and kissed her already trembling body.

"Oh, God…Logan….I have missed this…" she moaned as she rocked her hips forward. She arched her back as he slid a finger inside of her, teasing her all the time with his tongue. Rory could feel herself getting close, the feeling in her body was growing stronger and her legs started to quiver as her orgasm approached.

"That feels so amazing…don't stop" she panted as Logan continued to move his tongue against her, driving her closer and closer to the edge of ecstasy. His tongue flicked rapidly and she could feel the intensity building in her core, as her body finally tensed and she threw her head back as the pleasure ran over her. She was completely lost in the moment as she collapsed to the floor next to him. She kissed him passionately, tasting herself on his lips.

"I think it's my turn," she said, looking into his eyes as she pulled him over towards the bed.

Once they reached the bed Rory pushed Logan onto his back and before she tugged at his waistband to remove his shorts, she stopped to caress him, slowly running her hand over the prominent bulge in his underwear. She could already feel how hard he was and this turned her on even more. She continued to remove his shorts before she learned up to him to kiss him deeply on the mouth. Rory slid back down his body, kissing slowly down his neck and chest as she went lower and Logan sighed loudly in anticipation as she moved closer to his cock. She took hold of it firmly in her hand before gently teasing the tip with her tongue. Logan inhaled sharply as she encircled him with her lips before she opened her mouth wider and took him deeper into her mouth. He could hardly believe the situation he was in right now. He would never have dared to dream that he would be in a hotel room in London with his ex-girlfriend's mouth on him.

Logan groaned as he felt her hot, wet lips moving down his shaft. He closed his eyes and tangled his hands in her hair as she continued to massage him with her mouth, taking him in as far as she could.

"Oh fuck, Rory, that feels…" he panted as he lifted his head to look at her as she looked up and made eye contact with him while she continued her ministrations. Now that was a sight he wanted to commit to memory forever. If this thing with Rory was just this moment, he knew he'd never forget it as long as he lived.

Logan could feel his orgasm building up inside of him, his breathing getting more erratic. Rory could feel it too, it might have been a while since she had been in this position with him but she only too well remembered the tell-tale signs. Logan was sure that any moment it was going to be all over but all of a sudden Rory pulled away and looked up at him with her blue eyes mischievously sparkling before she leaned up closer to him to whisper into his ear "I really need you to fuck me now…" she breathed.

He groaned at her words. This was a whole new side to Rory that he had never seen before. She'd always been happy to let him lead but clearly, over the past few years her confidence had soared and it was a major turn-on for him that she was only too keen to let him know exactly what she wanted. Logan really needed no further encouragement and he quickly flipped them over so that he was on top of her. He pulled her legs further apart and he guided himself to her entrance, where he teased and rubbed against her, making her shudder with anticipation. Rory loved the feeling of his weight on top of her and she took a deep breath as he slowly pushed into her for the first time in years. She wrapped her legs tightly around him as he entered her deeply and he paused for a moment, them both just letting the sensation sink in.

"God, you feel incredible Rory," he said as he began to slowly move inside her.

He took hold of her hands and pushed them up over her head, using them to anchor himself as he drove into her, harder and harder, each thrust making them moan louder. Rory couldn't believe just how good it felt to have Logan in this way again, she closed her eyes tightly to soak it all up. She could feel her body slowly building up towards another orgasm and she knew it wouldn't be long for either of them. As she felt the waves of pleasure taking over her body once again she called his name loudly as she felt his body tighten and he quickly followed with his own release.

* * *

It took Rory a moment or two to adjust the next morning and remember exactly where she was. Disorientation was a common hazard of her job. As she slowly opened her eyes she remembered the activities of the night before and was suddenly reminded that she wasn't alone in the bed. She closed her eyes again for a brief moment before opening them to see Logan sleeping soundly next to her.

"Shit," she thought to herself. "That really happened"

She looked over at the clock that was sitting on the bedside table. She knew that she would have to wake Logan up as she had work to get on with that day and he'd no doubt have to get himself into the office.

"Hey" Rory whispered quietly as she tentatively shook him awake.

Logan opened his eyes slowly and looked at her. "Hey" he smiled a little.

"Sorry, I didn't really want to wake you but erm, I've kind of got a busy day and well, I figured you probably had work too…" she said a little awkwardly. She didn't want him to feel that she was throwing him out.

"What time is it?" he yawned and stretched upwards.

"7.30am," she said.

"Oh right, yeah, I do need to get out of here. I have a meeting at 8.30am" he said as he swung his legs out of bed.

They moved around the room quietly as they gathered up the clothes they had hurriedly discarded the night before. They were both suddenly very conscious of the huge step that they had taken and in the cold light of day, things looked really quite different. If her memory had been hazy in anyway, she needn't have worried, Rory's hotel room clearly told the story of what had happened with its tangle of sheets and clothes strewn around the room, lying where they had been deposited in the heat of the moment the night before.

"What have you lost?" Rory asked Logan as he ducked under the coffee table searching for something.

"I can't find my other shoe anywhere," he said "I definitely had two on when I came up here didn't I?" he joked.

Rory bent down and retrieved it from under the bed. She passed it over to him a little awkwardly. "Here," she said with a smile.

"Thanks" he smiled before he leaned down to put it on. "Well, I guess I had better get going…" Logan started to say before he trailed off.

He didn't really know what to say next or how to handle this situation. He had always hated this part, the awkward morning after a one-night stand, where you promised to call each other, both knowing full well that you had no intention to ever speak to one another again. Only this time it was different. This wasn't a nameless one-night stand that would be forgotten by lunchtime. It was Rory.

"Yeah" Rory smiled. It was time for them to both to get back to reality. The sex had been nothing short of amazing but it was straight back to the real world today. She watched as Logan opened the door of her hotel room to leave.

Before he stepped outside into the hallway he turned back towards and kissed her firmly on the lips and she responded a little.

"So…I guess…I'll call you?" he said.

"Sure" Rory nodded "Bye Logan," she said as she closed the door.

* * *

A/N: Three cheers for Two-Chapter Tuesday. I spoil you, I really do.


	4. Chapter Four

Logan stepped outside of the hotel and called his driver to take him back to his house. He looked at his watch, he had just about enough time to go home, get showered and change his clothes before his meeting at the office which was lucky, as he didn't think that doing the walk of shame into a meeting with his father was going to do him any favors at all. As he leaned back in the car and rested his head on the seat he thought about the night that he had just spent with his ex-girlfriend. He could still smell her on his skin. As soon as Rory had called him to suggest meeting up, he had pretty much known which way the night would end up and he hadn't been disappointed with the reality at all. It was incredible, they fit together perfectly and even after all this time, their bodies seemed to remember each other so well. Sex with Rory had been even better than he could ever remember it being, and that was saying something - it had always been pretty great. He pulled out his phone. He really wanted to send her a message but something held him back. He quickly put it back in his pocket as the car pulled up outside his house.

As he went about his business, he found his thoughts turning to Rory several times throughout the day. When he had left her hotel he had said he'd call her so he guessed that the ball was definitely in his court right now. As he was sitting at his desk that afternoon he decided that it was probably best to just take the bull by the horns and send her a message. He thought long and hard and typed out a brief message, trying to keep it light, but just as he was about to press send his phone started ringing in his hand. He smiled to himself when he saw who it was calling.

"You must have a sixth sense" he smiled as he answered the call.

"And why is that?" Rory said as she slowly walked through Hyde Park. She had been thinking about Logan all day and how awkwardly they had left things that morning. After wrestling with herself for a while, she had finally given up fighting the internal battle that she knew she was never going to win and just decided to pull up her big girl pants and call him.

Logan smiled "I was just in the middle of sending you a message."

"Really?" she said. "Now I am intrigued. What did it say? Was it dirty?"

"I'm afraid you'll never know now" he teased. "What are you up to anyhow? It sounds busy where you are."

"I'm just walking back to my hotel. I've nearly finished researching this article I am writing for CN Traveler but I just have one more so-called romantic restaurant to visit tonight and I wondered if perhaps you wanted to come along and keep me company" she said. "Don't be put off by the romantic part…this is strictly business…"

"Sure, I'll come with you" Logan smiled "Where are we going? I can meet you there?"

"Don't worry, I'll pick you up at 8 pm, message me your address?" Rory said.

"Wow, so forward, I never knew you had it in you" he teased. "I'll see you later."

Logan ended the call with Rory and put his phone back down on the desk. He put his hands behind his head and swivelled around in his office chair to look out of the window. He was taking it as a good sign that firstly, she had called him and secondly, she had asked to see him that night – even if it was just a work thing. He was happy that it would at least give them a chance to talk before she disappeared back off to the States.

* * *

Later that evening, Rory arrived outside Logan's London mews house in Notting Hill at 8 pm prompt. She rang the bell and Logan swiftly answered.

"Are you ready to go?" she gestured at the car that was waiting for them.

"You don't want to come in for the grand tour" he winked as he closed the door behind them.

"Some other time Huntzberger. I'm hungry and there's a complimentary meal coming my way" Rory joked.

The truth was she really did want to see in Logan's house, if only just to be nosy and gain a little insight into his life over the past few years, but she was a little concerned that if they went inside they'd spend the rest of the evening there and she really did need to review this last restaurant before she left England the next morning.

"Wow, you mean the only reason you're taking me on a date tonight is that it's free? You make me feel so cheap!" he shook his head.

"It's a perk of the job" she shrugged as they got in the car.

"So where is it we are going?" Logan asked as the car made its way through the busy London streets.

"A place called Bob Bob Ricard in Soho. It's kind of an English/Russian hybrid. It's a little Art Deco and oh the best thing is the 'Press for Champagne' button apparently. Although, maybe we've both had enough champagne his week…" she smiled.

They pulled up outside the restaurant and got out, Logan, ever the gentleman, stopping to open the door for Rory. She smoothed down her dress and made her way over to speak to the maître d'. The restaurant was expecting her and gave them the warmest welcome, given that she was going to be writing a review for one of the major publications at Conde Nast. They were excited further when she then introduced Logan as her dining companion. They knew his name well enough to know that he was VP of one of the largest newspaper conglomerates in the world. Rory actually thought the poor guy was going to pass out at the thought of having two major international and very influential publishing houses dining with them that evening and she smiled as the maître d' got a little flustered.

"I totally did that on purpose" Rory whispered to Logan as they followed the maître d' to the booth that had been prepared for them. They were seated in the blue dining room, the ornate blue and gold interior of which took its inspiration from the Orient Express. They looked around and took in the electric-blue booths, marble walls, Art Deco detailing, mirrored ceilings and the shiny gold bar. It was a pretty impressive place.

"That was mean" Logan shook his head laughing as he slid in the booth next to her.

"It was fun" she winked as the waiter approached them.

"Miss Gilmore, I am going to be your waiter for this evening, my name is Viktor. We have prepared a special menu for you and your guest" he said politely "Would you like to start with the vodka shots?"

"Would we?" she winked at Logan. "Sure, bring them out."

The vodka shots were a traditional start to the Russian-inspired menu at Bob Bob Ricard and what followed them could only be described as a culinary feast of Anglo-Russian cuisine ranging from beef Wellington to classic pelmeni dumplings. They, of course, hadn't been able to resist making the best use of the 'Press for Champagne' button that was on every table. Viktor had reliably informed them that the restaurant was famous for pouring more champagne than any other restaurant in the UK and so they felt it was rude not at least give it a try. Eventually, they finished up their drinks, said goodbye to Viktor and the maître d' and made their way out of their restaurant, deciding to walk the short distance back to Rory's hotel.

"I'd like one of those buttons in my apartment" Rory smiled as she walked alongside Logan in the street. "Except it would be for coffee"

"Where is this apartment you speak of? You never told me where you actually lived?" he asked.

"Brooklyn, although, I don't really spend a whole lot of time there so I am thinking I might let it go. It kind of depends on what happens with this Conde Nast thing," she added. "Though if it comes off then I might look at moving closer, somewhere in Manhattan maybe."

Logan nodded. "What time is your flight home tomorrow?"

"10 am from Heathrow" she answered.

"And you're going back to New York?" he asked.

"Yeah, no travel plans for a while" she smiled. "Will be good actually, to get the opportunity to sit still for a bit, it gets kind of exhausting"

Logan looked across at Rory as they walked side by side. "So…you're not likely to be in London for a while?"

She shook her head "Not unless I am assigned something."

"Rory…wait…I really need to ask you something" Logan stopped walking all of a sudden.

Rory looked at him a little confused and stopped where she was. "That sounds a little ominous…"

"It's not really…it's just, what are we doing? I mean, where do we go from here? Are we just going to go our own way after this or will we see each other again?" Logan asked. He hated to be the one to bring it up but he didn't see how they could go their separate ways tonight without at least touching on the conversation.

Rory flicked her eyes up to meet his. "Logan…I…." she paused and took a breath. She wasn't sure what to say next. She'd had a great time with him and wanted to see him again but their situation was what it was. She smiled a little as she began to speak. "Look. You live in London, I live in New York, I think we're both seriously kidding ourselves if we think that we could start over with a relationship given the distance that is going to be between us. I never know when I'm going to be in London Logan, and your life is here. It wouldn't be fair on either of us."

Logan smiled at her sadly. "I guess you're right. I would like to see you again though…" Logan said as he took hold of her hand and pulled her closer to him.

"I'd like to see you again too," Rory said. "Perhaps we could…" she paused and bit her lip.

Logan looked at her with curiosity. "What? What were you going to say?"

"Well…perhaps we could just keep things kind of casual. See each other when we're on the same continent but keep things open for the rest of the time" she shrugged.

"Open…as in…no strings, no exclusivity" Logan asked carefully.

Thoughts were whirling through his head. They'd tried that once before and it hadn't worked out well for them but he wasn't ready to see Rory walk back out of his life and if this was the way it had to be right now, then he knew he would take what he could.

"Right" she smiled "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and then when we leave Vegas…well, it's back to real life."

"You think it would work?" he asked.

Rory shrugged "I think it could be fun and that way there are no expectations. If you're lonely and want to date, you can. Let's just not talk about it in front of each other because that might be a little weird" she smiled.

"Agreed. I'm in" Logan smiled.

"Good" she smiled back. "Okay, this is me," Rory said as they stopped outside her hotel.

"Oh, right…well…I guess" Logan stammered a little, not sure whether they were going to say goodbye now.

"Come on Huntzberger is that the best you can do? Aren't you going to come upstairs and give me a proper goodbye" she said as she leaned in and kissed him softly before she took him by the hand and led him into the building.

Logan looked at Rory as they stood in the elevator and she turned to smile at him as she felt his eyes on her. This girl had always been his weakness. He shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. The next few months were going to be a very interesting time.

* * *

A/N: Interesting indeed. Oh dear.


	5. Chapter Five

_December 2015_

Over the next six months or so, Rory and Logan continued with their 'Vegas' agreement. As agreed, they kept things between them super casual, only planning to meet up if and when their schedules allowed which actually hadn't been that often as Rory hadn't needed to go back to London at all in that time. There had been that one time in New York during the summer and a quick sojourn at Thanksgiving when Logan had come back to see his family. He had managed to sneak away from them without raising too much suspicion and they were able to spend a few hours together holed up in Rory's Brooklyn apartment.

 _Flashback - Thanksgiving 2015 – Rory's Apartment_

 _Logan hated Thanksgiving, it was his least favorite of all the holidays. He'd hated it ever since he and Rory had broken up that one year and he'd made the mistake of sleeping with his sister's friends. It was not a good memory for either of them and Rory pretty much felt the same about the holiday, so when Logan had mentioned that he was going to be in town and that they could use the opportunity to sneak away from their families and hook up, she jumped at the chance. Rory had cited work commitments as the reason she needed to get back to her Brooklyn apartment and Logan had told his parents that he had to catch an early flight. In truth, as they hadn't seen each other since August they had planned to spend the next 24 hours cooped up together in the apartment, shutting off from the outside world._

 _"Logan! Look it's snowing" Rory said as she looked out of the window at the park opposite._

 _Logan stood up from the sofa and walked over to where she was standing. He stood behind her and kissed her on the cheek before he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I've never known anyone to get so excited about snow as you do" he smiled._

 _She leaned back in his arms. "Mom always says good things happen when it's snowing" she said as she watched the flakes falling from the sky._

 _"I think your mom is right," he said as he nuzzled her neck and pulled her back to the sofa where they spent the rest of the quiet snowy afternoon cuddled up. They watched old movies and sipped hot chocolate from huge mugs. To anyone looking in on them, they looked like a cosy picture of perfect domestic bliss and even Rory and Logan would forget at times like these that they really were nothing more than friends with benefits._

 _It wasn't long before a cuddle on the sofa turned into a long session of heavy duty making out and their clothes were quickly discarded onto the floor. Logan pushed Rory back on the sofa before climbing on top of her and kissing his way down her body._

 _"Hey! Shouldn't we be sharing what we are thankful for" Rory said in a soft yet commanding voice._

 _Logan looked up at her "I am VERY thankful that you are naked on your sofa right now" he smirked as he gently placed a kiss in a very intimate area._

 _"Logan!" she squealed. "I'm serious!"_

 _"So am I," he said as he traced down her thighs with his tongue. "What are you thankful for Ace?"_

 _"Right now? I'm thankful that I live on the top floor and none of my neighbours can see in my window…" she said before gasping loudly as Logan slowly slid two fingers inside of her._

 _Logan moved his fingers in and out of her painfully slowly, making Rory writhe underneath him. He had always thought that watching Rory in the throws of pleasure was one of the most beautiful sights he had seen. When they had first started dating back at Yale she was so self-conscious but as they had become more comfortable with each other she had learned to let go and now after all these years, they were totally uninhibited around each other. He was constantly in awe of how much she wanted him and how her body responded to him and craved his touch. Logan increased the pace and within just a few minutes, Rory shattered into an earth-splitting orgasm. Watching her come like that, knowing that he did that to her, almost tipped him over the edge. He leaned down to capture her lips in a deep and passionate kiss._

 _The mutual desire between them could be felt as their lips met and Logan not wanting to wait any longer, slowly pushed into her. Rory placed one leg up on his shoulder allowing him to penetrate her deeper. They were face to face and Logan couldn't help but lose himself in her deep blue eyes as she gazed up at him before he picked up the pace. She pulled him down towards her, into a searing kiss which she quickly had to break away from, crying out as he thrust into her hard. A low moan escaped from his lips as he moved rhythmically back and forth._

 _"Oh god," she screamed as she arched her back and pressed her hips up towards him as she climaxed once again. Logan could feel her clamping down and the sensation of her pulsating against him was all that he needed to push him over the top and he called her name loudly as he let go. He slowly pulled out of her and lay his head on her chest while he regained his breath and she ran her fingers gently through his hair._

 _"Now that was something to be thankful for!" she whispered._

Throughout all of this time, they had both been seeing other people though neither wanted to flaunt this in the other's face. They had already decided when they started their 'Vegas' agreement this was not something they really should discuss and both had stuck to that deal, being mindful and respectful at all times.

Sometime in the Summer, Logan had started casually seeing Odette Baudenet D'annoux, a French heiress that his parents had introduced him to at a party. She was beautiful, intelligent and, of the utmost importance to his mother, she was also incredibly wealthy. Logan actually had no problem spending time with her. She spent most of her time Paris and when she was in London, she was the perfect woman to accompany him on all his business events. When people started calling her his girlfriend, he didn't exactly stop them even though he wasn't entirely sure where the relationship was headed, since there was no way he was ready to let go of Rory yet.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Rory had been entering into a string of casual relationships. In fact, since her traumatic break up with Logan several years earlier, that's all she had ever really done. She'd never got to the point of being serious with anyone again, deep down she was too afraid of getting hurt and so she never really let anyone get that close to her. Casual dating had been more than enough for her over the past few years and now with Logan back on the scene, she was happy to keep it that way.

As they were both seeing other people, Rory and Logan had made sure to be really careful about who was in the know about their occasional meet-ups. Rory had only confided in Lane, who she knew would absolutely never judge her, and Logan had told nobody at all, not even his closest friends.

Now Rory was back home in Stars Hollow for the Christmas period and she knew that as Logan was back home in Hartford for a few days, that there was a good chance that they would get to spend some time together. For this reason, she had tried to keep her schedule as free as possible – which she knew kind of went against everything they had said – when they were free, they were free – but she really wanted to see him while he was in town. Rory was having the traditional Friday night dinner at her grandparent's house when she heard her iPhone vibrate in her pocket. She reached in and pulled it out to read the message and smiled as she saw it was from Logan asking her when she'd be free to escape.

"Rory! You know the rules. No cell phones at the dinner table" her grandmother Emily scolded.

"I'm sorry grandma" she smiled apologetically, "But I really need to reply to this, I'll be quick, I promise" she pleaded.

Emily rolled her eyes "Very well"

"Who is it from Rory? Is it a booty call?" Lorelai teased with a raised eyebrow.

"Lorelai, really." Emily scolded.

Rory pulled a face at her mother and started to type out a reply to his message. She agreed to pick him up in an hour outside his parent's house. Rory smiled as she put the phone back down on the table. She didn't know why, but she felt butterflies in her tummy at the prospect of seeing Logan.

* * *

"I feel like a naughty teenager skulking around out here in the darkness" Rory laughed as Logan climbed into her car next to her.

The problem with neither of them living in the area was that they really only had their families homes to go to, and seeing as neither of their families knew anything about them seeing each other, they were currently off limits.

"It does kind of suck that we have nowhere to go when we are staying around here" Logan agreed. "Hey, come here," he said as he pulled her over to him and kissed her.

"What was that for?" Rory said as they pulled away from each other.

Logan shrugged. "Nothing, do I need a reason?" he asked her with a smile.

"I guess not" she smiled back. "So, where to?" she asked gripping the steering wheel.

"I don't know, let's go for a drink somewhere?" Logan said.

Rory pulled the car out of the Huntzberger's driveway and they headed to bar in a part of town that they wouldn't normally frequent. They wanted to avoid all the usual haunts for fear of being seen together by one of their friends or family. Not that they really had anything to hide, nor would it really cause any issues, at the end of the day, they were just friends going for a drink. They just wanted to avoid all the gossip and talk that would undoubtedly follow them around – and having to explain how they had reconnected.

"I'll go grab us some drinks, you find us a table?" Logan said as he headed towards the bar.

Rory walked over to a free table and sat down at it. She watched Logan as he stood at the bar, admiring the man he had turned out to be. Logan turned around and caught her watching him; she blushed a little and he smiled at her brightly as he walked over, setting the drinks on the table.

"So, I guess there's not been much time to talk recently, how are things going with work?" Logan asked as he took a sip of his drink.

Rory sighed "Still no sign of a permanent position but lots of freelance work still in the pipeline from Conde Nast which is good, so I am making the most of it. I've had a few quiet weeks but I've got another piece coming up in London in February, so I thought that perhaps I could come stay with you for a few days?"

Logan picked up his beer and swallowed hard. This was potentially going to be quite awkward. He already knew that Odette was going to be in town that month and while Rory was fully aware that he saw other people, he hadn't yet broached the subject with her or informed her of the fact that Odette was now widely considered to be his girlfriend. There was the added complication that the French heiress was pretty much of the belief that she was his one and only.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Let me know the dates…" he said not quite making eye contact with her.

"In case…of a clash?" Rory raised an eyebrow. They rarely strayed into this dangerous territory, where they talked about the other people in their lives.

"Something like that….it's not a problem though," he said with a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure? I mean, I can just get a hotel if I'm going to be in your way…" she said, sensing that there was something going on.

"No it's fine, we'll sort something out," Logan said.

"Okay," Rory said sipping her martini, feeling a little awkward but not wanting to push the conversation any further. While it had been her idea to create the Vegas agreement, she was uncomfortable knowing that someone else was sharing his bed, even though she knew she had no right whatsoever to feel that way. Plus, it was pretty hypocritical of her given that she had been involved with others.

"When are you going back to London?" she asked, trying to change the conversation.

"I've got a flight out around midday on January 1st. I was thinking - do you want to do something on New Year's Eve? We could go to your apartment or get a hotel somewhere?" he asked. "Unless you've already get got plans…"

"What, you mean, no sneaking around outside our parent's houses?" Rory laughed "Sure, why not. I've got no other plans at the moment."

They talked for a little longer in the bar until the staff signalled that they were starting to clear up and would be closing up soon. They picked up their coats and as they left the bar Logan slipped his arm around Rory's waist. Outside in the December night, the air was chilly and Rory huddled in closer to Logan as they walked back to her car. They got in and she drove him back to his parent's house, where on arrival she cut the engine as they sat outside talking for a few minutes.

Logan leaned in and kissed her, tracing his tongue over her lips. Rory responded to the kiss and allowed it to deepen as he laced his fingers through her hair.

"Wow, making out in a car on your parent's drive, this takes me back but, you know you're not getting past first base tonight right?" she smiled. "Are you coming to my grandparent's party this weekend?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world Ace?" he said as he kissed her once again before pressing his forehead against hers. "I'll see you Saturday," he said as he got out of the car.

With a last lingering look, Rory watched him go into the house. Her heart did a little flip at hearing him call her by his pet name and she cursed her heart for this betrayal. This was a casual thing, nothing more. She sighed as started up the engine and drove away from the Huntzberger's house and headed back to Stars Hollow.

* * *

A/N: I've managed to get a lot of writing in this week and I've got so much of the story lined out. What I will say is that this has turned into one big giant smut-fest! Whoops. You can expect a lot of smut coming up...but hey, that's the very nature of their relationship right now isn't it?


	6. Chapter Six

When Saturday night rolled around Rory was getting herself ready for her grandparent's Christmas party in the bathroom at her mom's house. She'd picked out an outfit especially for the party and was just putting the finishing touches on her make-up.

"Now that's what a call a festive dress! Who are you impressing kiddo, you do know that that this party is just going to be full of the wicked witches of the DAR and my father's old cronies?" Lorelai said as she looked at Rory in the short, red sparkly dress she was wearing. "Plus that hemline, that will give Emily Gilmore a seizure for sure…" she warned.

Rory rolled her eyes at her mom. "I won't have these legs forever, so I may as well flaunt them now," she said "Besides, who said I was impressing anyone? I'm just getting into the festive spirit is all" she shrugged.

"If you say so" Lorelai winked.

"Are you girls ready to go yet?" Luke said impatiently as he appeared at the bathroom door.

"Yes, yes, come on. Let's get this over with…" Lorelai said as she ushered them all out of the house, saying goodbye to Babette on the way out who was babysitting Theo for the evening.

* * *

When they arrived at her grandparent's house in Hartford, Rory quickly got out of the car and bounded into the party with what could only be described as an enormous spring in her step.

"Why is she so eager?" Luke asked grumpily. He would have rather been anywhere than at his in-law's house. "She actually seems like she wants to be here."

"Beats me," Lorelai said as she walked in the door and handed her coat to one of the waiting maids. "Oh, silly silly me," she said slapping her hand against her forehead. "That's why she's all dressed up" she nodded towards where Logan was stood near the bar talking to some friends.

"Logan? I've not heard her mention him in years" Luke said a bit confused. As far as he knew Rory and Logan had not seen each in several years.

Lorelai sighed. "He was here last year apparently, I guess she probably knew he'd be here tonight which explains a lot…"

Luke looked at his wife. "Just so I know before I walk in there, what do we think about this? About him I mean…"

Lorelai shrugged "Rory's a grown woman, it's up to her what she does."

"I thought she was seeing that guy Ryan from her work anyway," Luke said. As someone who avoided gossip and idle chat as much as possible, he could never quite keep up with what was going on in Rory's life. It was none of his business what his adult stepdaughter did with her time so he generally kept out it.

"Nah, he's just a friend…I think" she said a little confused herself and she shook her head "I don't know, Rory is a 'casual' dater these days…and we all remember how well that turned out the first time around don't we. Come on let's get a drink before my mother sees us" she said dragging Luke with her to the bar.

Rory was already standing at the bar ordering herself a gin and tonic. She looked across to where Logan was stood chatting and quickly caught his eye. She smiled at him and he took that as his cue to walk over and say hello to her.

"Nice dress," he said as he greeted her with a chaste kiss on the cheek – a kiss that was more than suitable for such an event in case anyone should be watching them. "Though, if I am being honest, it would look much better on my bedroom floor Ace" he whispered in her ear.

Rory shivered as his warm breath touched her ear. She bit her lip and smiled at him. "If only, huh. It's just a shame that your bedroom is thousands of miles away" she winked before Lorelai suddenly interrupted them.

"Logan! Fancy seeing you here!" Lorelai bounded up to them at the bar, a smile fixed on her face.

"Lorelai, it's good to see you," Logan said as he turned to her and smiled back.

"What are you doing here? Do you enjoy torture? Nothing better to do on a Saturday night in December?" Lorelai joked.

"Oh, I've never been one to be able to resist one of Emily's salmon puffs" he joked.

"Right" Lorelai smiled back and eyed her daughter suspiciously. "Rory, could I just borrow you for a moment?" she said as she took her daughter by the arm. "I just need you to help me with something in the kitchen…we won't be long…"

"Sure, I'll catch up with you later Logan," Rory said, discretely rolling her eyes at him as her mom led her away and into the kitchen.

"What are you doing Rory?" Lorelai demanded once the door was closed behind them.

"What do you mean?" Rory said. She wasn't ready to tell her mom anything about Logan and so decided to play it safe.

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Logan? Really?"

"Eh? Have you totally flipped? What about Logan?" Rory said as she threw her hands into the air.

"Are you seriously going to go there again?" Lorelai said as she shook her head. "After everything…"

"Mom! There's nothing going on with Logan, this is the first time I have seen him since last Christmas, we're just being friendly that's all". She was lying through her teeth of course but this was neither the time or the place to tell Lorelai that she had been occasionally sleeping with her ex-boyfriend over the past six months.

"Oh okay" Lorelai scoffed. Having known Rory for thirty years, she knew exactly when her daughter was being cute with the truth.

"Anyhow…even if there was…what does it matter to you?" Rory said feeling slightly annoyed. "I'm single, he's single…" she said. As far as I know,…she said to herself before shaking the thoughts from her head.

Rory knew that Lorelai had always been slightly down on Logan. Hell, she had been a big factor in why she had said no to Logan's proposal in the first place. There was a big part of Rory that truly believed if it hadn't been for Lorelai's influence over her, she could have been living a happy life with Logan all these years and that did make her feel a little bitter if she dwelled on it for too long.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt," Lorelai said quietly.

"I'm a pretty big girl, I can look after myself," Rory said with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Now do you mind…" she gestured back out to the party.

Lorelai sighed as Rory left the kitchen and went back out to the party. Rory mingled with other partygoers and made polite conversation for a little while but when it came down to it, she was only really interested in talking to Logan. After a while she couldn't wait any longer, she needed to be alone with him. Rory slipped outside to the pool house and once safely inside she pulled her iPhone out of her bag and sent a message to him.

"Pool house, now!"

* * *

Logan was stood talking with friends as the notification came through on his phone. He smiled at the message and quickly made his excuses before walking outside to the pool house, which was in total darkness. He opened the door and walked in, calling out her name.

"Rory? Where are you?"

"I'm in the bedroom! Make sure you lock the door" she called out to him.

Logan fumbled with the lock and walked into the bedroom to find her. "Any reason we're in the pitch black here Ace?"

"I don't want to draw attention to the fact that we're in here," she said as she slid her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his.

"What was all that with your mom?" he asked when she pulled away.

"Oh nothing, she just wanted to know if we were screwing each other I guess," she said as she kissed his neck. "Which, we will be in a minute if I get my way…"

"Here….really?" Logan laughed.

"Why not…for old times sake? We had some good times in this pool house and it's not like we have anywhere else to go to be alone tonight…," she said with a smile.

"You're absolutely right," he said as he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her again, this time more urgently.

Logan felt her hands slide around his neck and her mouth open against his. Her tongue brushed against his lips before sliding into his mouth to meet his. He pressed his body against hers and she ran her hands roughly through his hair.

Rory moaned into his mouth as he stroked his tongue against hers and she began undoing his shirt buttons frantically. In her haste, she heard one pop off and bounce on the floor. She finally got his shirt open and ran her hands over his chest.

"Get this off" she panted, as she attempted to shove it off his shoulders and he helped her remove it. She reached down for his belt as she felt his mouth on her neck, slowly licking and sucking his way to her ear. She whimpered a little and slid his belt open, reaching for the button of his pants, slowly opening it and sliding down the zipper. He moaned as she slid her hands inside his underwear and shoved them and his pants past his hips.

"What do you want Rory?" he whispered into her ear as his hands slid under her dress and he started to slowly remove her panties.

"I want you," she said breathlessly as she wrapped her fingers around his cock, stroking it gently.

Logan groaned as he lifted one of her legs to hook around his waist. He looked into her eyes as he pushed into her and she moved her hips forward to meet him. She gasped as he moaned and pushed her harder into the wall.

"Harder" she whispered as he began to thrust in a slow rhythm. He breathed into her open mouth, sliding his tongue in. "Please Logan" she moaned into his ear as he started to thrust harder. She buried her face into his neck and bit down as he pulled her closer to him with his hands on her ass. He moved his hand down between them and slowly traced circles in her wetness.

"Oh…god Logan. I am going to come" she panted as her head fell back against the wall.

"Let go Rory" he whispered into her ear as he began to thrust harder again.

She wrapped herself around him and closed her eyes tight as she completely lost herself. The sensation of her reaching her orgasm and clamping down on him tipped him over the edge and Logan came with a shout, pinning her hard to the wall and breathing against her neck. After they regained their breath he slowly pulled out of her and kissed her.

"Well that was unexpected," he said as he pulled his pants back up.

She smiled and opened her eyes. "I guess we had better get back to the party."

* * *

Logan went back to the party first, with Rory following a few moments later so as not to raise any suspicions. She needed to fix her hair and make-up anyhow so she disappeared off to the bathroom first. For the rest of the evening, they kept a respectable distance from each other. As far as anyone looking on would know, they were simply exes who were managing to be civil to each other. When it was time to leave, Rory went to stay goodbye to Logan who was stood talking to one of his father's friends.

"I just came to say goodbye, we're leaving now," she said as she gestured to where Luke and Lorelai were stood waiting for her by the door.

"Oh right, well it was nice to see you, Rory," he said as he brushed his lips against her cheek and gently laid his hand on her ass.

Lorelai was watching every moment of their exchange and that little move – Logan copping a sly feel of Rory – did not go unnoticed.

"You too" she smiled "I'll see you around," she said as she walked away. "Oh, and Logan?" she turned to look at him.

"Yeah?" he looked up at her.

"You've lost a button on that shirt, you might want to be more careful next time" she winked as she walked away from him.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm treating you to a two-chapter Thursday. For two reasons, firstly as it is alli_xoxo's birthday today and secondly because I've had taken advantage of being a bit poorly and nailed the next seven chapters. GO ME! Also, I am kind of buttering you up as the bad news is...I won't be able to post for probably seven days from next Tuesday. Boo! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **To reply to a few comments - For those who are worried about Odette, let me just say, she's a bit part. She's not a major character and more importantly there is NO dynastic plan.**

 **Festis7 - I think whether or not they actually care about each other will start to become apparent in the next few chapters.**

 **Thanks for all the feedback, I love reading your comments and thoughts so keep them coming - it keeps me motivated!**


	7. Chapter Seven

_December 2015_

As planned, Rory and Logan slipped away from their families and headed to New York to spend New Year's Eve together for the first time in years. Instead of staying at Rory's Brooklyn apartment, Logan had booked them a luxurious suite at The Plaza and had arranged to meet Rory there. He knew they were going to be apart again for a little while and had wanted to make it special.

Rory had spent the past week in Stars Hollow with her mom and extracting herself from Lorelai had been a whole lot trickier than she had thought. Lorelai wanted to know exactly what Rory was doing and why. She had explained to her mom that she was working on a freelance piece that she really needed to be in the city for, but Lorelai wasn't exactly wet behind the ears and questioned exactly what could be so important that Rory would need to work on New Year's Eve. Rory fumbled her way through an excuse but Lorelai still had her suspicions.

"I'm so sorry I am late," Rory said as she blustered her way into the suite "I had planned to get here earlier but you know my Mom, she was on full alert," she said as she dropped her overnight bag on the floor and threw her arms around Logan.

"No worries, you're here now, that's all that matters," he said as he kissed her.

"What's the plan?" Rory asked.

"I'm taking you out for dinner then perhaps we'll hit Times Square?" Logan said.

"Sounds good. I'm going to go have a shower and then I'll get changed and no…" she said as she looked at him "that wasn't an invitation for you to join me…because if you do we'll never even leave the hotel room" she smiled.

"That doesn't sound so bad Ace…" he smirked.

"Stay!" she pointed her finger at him and warned him off.

After they had both got changed they headed out into the chilly New York night for dinner. As they entered the restaurant, Logan gave his name to the hostess who led them to the back of the restaurant towards their private booth. They sat and had a nice quiet dinner together, laughing and talking while their sipped champagne all the time. On the outside, they looked very much like a couple in love, completely relaxed with each other in every way.

"So, are you going to make any new year's resolutions?" Logan asked Rory as he refilled her glass.

"Oh I don't know, I never really bother with any of that. I mean, resolutions are just made to be broken aren't they?" she said as she sipped her drink.

"That's half the fun" he winked.

"Okay…well if I am going to have to pick one, it would be to be a bit braver," she said after some thought. She'd never been very good at taking chances.

"That's an interesting one…" Logan said thoughtfully.

"What about you?" Rory asked with interest.

"I'm going to seize the day more. Carpe diem" Logan smiled.

"How very Life and Death of you" she laughed. "I've always thought of you as someone who seized the day anyhow."

Logan shrugged. "Not so much now"

"Well here's to us being brave and seizing the day," Rory said as she held up her glass to Logan. Logan smiled and brought his glass up to meet hers.

They continued to talk and somehow throughout the evening, they had moved closer to each other, things turning a whole lot flirtier between them as more alcohol was consumed. Logan put his hand on Rory's thigh and leaned in to kiss her neck. She closed her eyes and whispered in his ear "God, Logan, I am so turned on right now if you carry that one, I don't think I will be able to wait until we get home."

"Oh really?" he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Really. Can we go?" she asked, pleading with her eyes.

"Are you sure that you don't want to go to Times Square and see the ball drop?" he asked "I mean, we're here and all…" he smiled.

"Absolutely not, it happens every year, I can watch in on TV. Come on let's go" she said as she tugged on his arm impatiently.

They waited outside the restaurant for the driver to come and pick them up. Logan held Rory in his arms and gently but firmly grabbed her by the back of her head and kissed her deeply, his tongue exploring every inch of her mouth. Rory could feel his arousal growing as their bodies pressed together.

When they arrived back at their hotel suite, they flung the door open and their lips violently collided. As soon as the door was safely closed behind them their clothes were swiftly discarded on the floor, neither of them wanting to wait.

"I want you... so bad," Rory said as she wrapped her arms around Logan and pulled him towards the bed.

Logan lay Rory on the bed and his lips moved slowly down to her neck, lightly trailing kisses all the way down to her collarbone. She tilted her head back and bit her lip as he lavished attention on one of her most sensitive spots. A small moan escaped from her lips as he continued to kiss down her chest and he came to rest his mouth between her legs. Logan always knew exactly what to do to push Rory to the brink and as he used his tongue to circle her, her head flew back, continuing to moan as the sensations sent her head spinning.

There was nothing Logan enjoyed more than the sound of Rory enjoying the pleasure that he could give her. He began to lightly caress her with his fingers before gently slipping one inside her, as he continued his work with his tongue. Rory desperately wanted to feel him inside her but there was no way Logan was stopping until he had pushed her completely over the edge. Finally, she reached her climax, her body arching upwards as she breathlessly screamed out his name.

As she came back down to earth and tried to retake control of her breathing, Logan kissed his way back up her body and her nipples twitched as he ran his tongue across them. He positioned himself over her and she spread her legs to allow him access. As he gently pushed and entered her, he soon lost all coherent thoughts as he could concentrate on nothing else other than the burning need to be deeper into her. He thrust harder and called out her name as he came inside her, his body tensed and his breathing erratic before he dropped his head onto her chest where he remained until they both got their breath back.

As they lay there together, they could hear the fireworks going off around them, signalling that it was now 2016, a new year was dawning. Logan slid back up the bed to lie alongside Rory, pulling her close to him, into a comfortable spooning position.

"Happy New Year" Logan whispered in her ear.

Rory turned her head to look at him "Happy New Year Logan" she smiled as they saw in the New Year with a traditional New Year's kiss.

At some point, they must have drifted off to sleep as the next thing Rory was aware of was the smell of coffee. She lay in the bed feeling content and happy as Logan walked over with a cup of steaming hot coffee for her. She sat up and rubbed her face before she took the cup from him.

"I could get really used to this" she smiled "Thanks," she said as she sipped it.

"I thought you could probably do with it, that was a fair amount of champagne we put away last night" he smiled.

Rory touched her delicate temples "Yeah, I do have a bit of a sore head this morning, but it was worth it. What time is it anyway?"

"It's 11 am…" Logan said as he looked at his watch.

"Logan! You let me sleep that late, but you're leaving soon aren't you?" she said with wide eyes.

He nodded "Yeah, I've got to head off to the airport in a few minutes"

Rory pouted at him. "You should have woke me up"

"Aw Ace, you looked so peaceful there, I didn't want to disturb you" he winked "Shoot," he said as he looked at his watch again. "I've really got to go, the car will be downstairs."

Logan picked up his bag and leaned down to kiss her on the top of the head. "Don't get up. The suite is booked for tonight too so you can stay here all day if you want. Order room service, watch some bad movies" he smiled.

"Okay," she forced a smile. "So, I'll maybe see you next month? I'll let you know the dates?"

"Sure, we'll sort something out. Now I've really got to go!" he said as he made his way over to the other side of the room.

Rory watched him getting ready to leave "Logan…" she called after him.

"Yeah?" he turned around to look at her.

"I…well…oh, it's not important" she chewed the inside of her lip.

He looked at her quizzically "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, have a safe trip" she smiled.

"I'll message you when I land" he smiled. "See you soon Ace," he said as he walked out of the room.

Rory watched the door close and put down her cup of coffee. She threw herself back onto the pillow and pulled the quilt over her head. That had been the hardest goodbye yet and she didn't know why she felt so wretched about it, all she knew was that she did and she hated the way it made her feel.

* * *

Rory decided to take Logan's advice and stay at The Plaza ordering over-priced hamburgers to be delivered to the room and she had big plans to lie in bed all afternoon watching old black and white movies, figuring that it was the best way to deal with her hangover and to soothe her soul. However it wasn't enough, what she really needed was someone to talk this through with so she had called Lane, who being the utterly amazing friend that she was, made the trip to New York City to stay with her for the night.

"So, what are you telling me? That you want more?" Lane asked. She'd always been supportive of Rory, even when she suspected that the Vegas agreement she'd entered into with Logan wasn't necessarily a great idea.

"No. Maybe. I don't know!" Rory said as she dropped her head into her hands. "Ugh, I need a taco."

"We've already had hamburgers and hot dogs…a taco really isn't going to help you right now" Lane smiled.

"I just feel really confused about everything. This is what we both wanted. We both agreed to this casual thing. When we can see each we do and outside of that…" she threw her hands up in the air.

"If it's what you both wanted then why are you so sad that he's gone home," Lane said carefully.

"I don't know, I guess I just really miss him when he's not here. Things are good when we're together" she shrugged. "Maybe it's just my hangover making things worse."

"Or maybe it's time to face facts that this casual dating isn't really working for you" Lane wrinkled her nose. "If it is making you feel like this, perhaps you should just put an end to the Vegas agreement."

Rory looked at Lane and frowned. "You mean as in not see each other anymore?"

Lane shrugged "Either that or make things more permanent."

Rory shook her head. "It won't work. He's there, I'm here. Our lives are worlds apart."

"But you can't go on like this, can you? How long are you going to carry on these hookups for? Eventually one of you is going to want to settle down or one of you will meet someone else…and then what?" Lane reasoned.

"So you do think I should end it?" Rory asked.

"Oh Rory, I can't tell you what to do, you really need to work that out for yourself, but right now, all I see is my best friend looking sadder than I've seen her in a long time and I don't like that" Lane said as she put her arm around her friend.

Rory sighed. "This is way too much to think about with a hangover. Let's talk about something else. Shall we order some dessert? It's all paid for by my 'friend with benefits' Logan" she rolled her eyes.

Lane smiled and nodded. She knew that Rory wasn't going to make a decision on this issue tonight. She just really hoped that Rory would work out what she wanted before it was too late and someone got badly hurt.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for all the comments so far. I had a good writing session yesterday and got lots down. Fair warning - a lot more smut to come and a decent amount of angst. I was on an emotional rollercoaster yesterday!


	8. Chapter Eight

_January 2016_

Rory handed in her visitor badge at the security desk and walked out of the 1WTC building where Conde Nast was based in New York. She stood on the sidewalk and clenched her fists. Her determination and hard work had finally paid off and she had at last been offered a staff job as a features writer for the Conde Nast Traveler magazine that she had been freelancing for over the past year.

It finally felt like something good was coming together for her after a couple of unstable years of floating around. She was completely over the moon with this new development in her career and she knew that there was really only one person she wanted to share that news with right now. Rory looked at her watch. It was would be about 7 pm in London so she figured Logan would be home by now. She pulled out her iPhone and dialled his number. She sat down on a bench outside the building as she waited for him to answer her call.

"Hello?" a voice on the other end of the line answered.

"Oh…hello," Rory said. She was a bit thrown to hear a female voice answering Logan's cell phone. She pulled her phone away from her ear to check that she had called the right number. "Erm, I'm looking for Logan?" she said tentatively.

"I'm afraid he can't come to the phone right now, he's in the shower," the woman said in a light French accent.

"Oh…okay. I'll call him back another time. I'm sorry to bother you, bye" Rory said as she ended the call quickly.

Feeling a little bit deflated she walked out on to the street to hail a cab to take her back to her apartment in Brooklyn. She couldn't help but wonder who it was answering Logan's phone. Even though she knew she had no right to care or question it, it didn't stop a pang - of something she couldn't quite put her finger on - deep in her tummy.

Later that evening as she sat on the sofa with her laptop browsing for apartments nearer to her new job, her iPhone rang next to her. Logan had called her back. Odette having told him he'd missed a call when he came out of the shower, he had checked the call log to see that it had been Rory. He felt a little nervous about calling her back, he hadn't mentioned Odette to her at all so he felt bad that she had just spoken to without any kind of warning. Rory toyed with the phone in her hand before she took a deep breath and answered the call.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey Ace, I didn't think you were going to answer then. Are you okay? You called earlier?" Logan asked.

"Yeah…I…sorry, I should have left a message…" Rory mumbled.

"That's okay," Logan said.

Rory didn't see any point in beating around the busy. "So, who was that who answered?"

Logan sighed a little and pushed his hand through his hair. He'd known that this conversation was likely. "I thought we didn't want to discuss these things…"

"It's just a question" Rory interrupted.

"Her name is Odette," Logan said.

"So, you have your dates answering your phone now?" Rory joked, although it was hard for her to make it sound light-hearted and Logan could sense the low-level intensity in her voice.

He rubbed his face with his hand. It was now or never. "She's kind of my girlfriend."

"Wow" Rory went quiet. She was shocked at hearing him say that.

"Ace?" Logan promoted.

"Sorry, it's just…I've never really heard you call anyone that…" she said. And it was the truth, she'd only ever heard him refer to herself as his girlfriend, but that was a long time ago.

"Yeah, well, it kind of just…happened and I've been meaning to talk to you about it but…there never seemed the right moment and" Logan knew he was rambling a little.

Rory shook her head. There had been plenty of opportunities for Logan to come clean about having someone he now called a girlfriend in his life but she didn't really feel like bringing that up right now.

"Logan, you really don't have to explain yourself to me…"

"So, it's not a problem?" he asked.

"I guess not, no" Rory bit her lip. She felt like a complete hypocrite considering that she'd been on several dates over the past few months but an actual girlfriend? Well, it just felt more serious.

"Okay, good. Was there a reason you called?" Logan asked gently.

"Oh right, yeah," Rory said remembering why she had got in contact with Logan in the first place. "I found out today I got the features writer position at Conde Nast that I was talking about."

"You did?" Logan said excitedly. "That's fantastic news! We should go out and celebrate when you're in London next month. When are you due in to town?" he asked.

"Yeah, we should," Rory said, her spirits feeling dampened a little. "I was going to book a flight to come out on the 12th for a few days?"

"Shoot," Logan said.

Rory felt her heart sink a little. "Do you have plans?" she asked.

"Yeah, kind of" he paused before elaborating. "It's Valentines, I'm going to be in Paris for a few days…"

"Right," she said, trying to hide her disappointment.

"I'm sorry Rory," Logan said.

"It's no big deal. Look I've got to go so erm, I'll just catch up with you soon, yeah?" she said. Rory ended the call and threw her phone down onto the table. She was completely frustrated with how that call had played out and she didn't know what to do about it.

Logan didn't get the chance to say goodbye to Rory before she had ended the call. He had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that he'd messed everything up with her. He knew he should have told Rory about Odette sooner but then he'd kind of thought that the thing with Odette would probably fizzle out and there'd be no need to even bring it up. He put his phone down on the chair next to him, unsure of what he should do next.

* * *

Rory didn't actually speak to Logan over the next few weeks, though he had tried to call her several times. She had wanted to put a little bit of distance between them while she tried to get her head straight, however, she didn't ignore him completely. They exchanged a few text messages and emails with her apologizing for not answering calls and putting it down to how busy she was with her new job. She was settling in well at Conde Nast and only three weeks into the job she was already loving it. The team she worked with were great fun and it helped that she already knew some of them through the freelancing work she had previously carried out.

Valentines Day rolled around quickly and Rory tried hard to push to the back of her mind that she had been intending to spend it with Logan in London. After he said he was going out of town she had cancelled her plans to travel to the UK. She was sitting at her desk at Conde Nast when a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to her.

"Wow, someone is popular" her colleague Mandy said across the desk. "They're gorgeous".

Rory forced a smile, she knew exactly who the flowers would be from and she didn't know how she felt about it. She pulled the card out of the little envelope to read the message inside.

"Ace, Happy Valentine's Day. Sorry we couldn't be together but I'll make it up to you soon, I promise. L x"

She pursed her lips, put the card down on her desk and went straight back to her work.

"So who are they from, boyfriend?" Mandy asked.

Rory shook her head without looking up. "Just a friend," she said.

A little while later, Logan rang her phone. She stared at the phone for a moment before finally answering the call with a bright and breezy hello.

"She speaks! I'd almost forgotten what your voice sounded like" Logan teased. He was half-surprised that she'd answered.

"Thanks for the flowers, they're beautiful," she said, "but you really didn't have to…"

"You're welcome, I felt bad about not being able to see you this week so…" Logan trailed off.

"It's fine Logan, you don't owe me anything at all," she said matter of factly.

Logan sighed "I know but I'm still sorry"

"There's nothing to apologize, I was just a little blindsided that's all," Rory said.

"So we're good?" Logan asked carefully.

"We're fine. So how is Paris?" Rory asked. She didn't care and neither did she want to know.

"It's cold and wet. How is New York?" he asked.

"Snowy" Rory said quietly. She had been surprised when she had woken up to a blanket of snow this morning.

"Are you okay?" Logan asked. He could tell that she didn't really sound her usual self.

"Yeah, it's just been a long week," she said.

"Oh, of course, the move, are you settled into the new place?" Logan asked.

"I am but it's been…" she was about to start telling Logan about it before she was interrupted by a voice behind her.

"Hey Rory"

"Hang on a just minute' she said to Logan and put her hand on her phone.

"What's up," she said looking at Marcus. He was a colleague that she had met on her first day and they'd kind of hit it off straight away. It didn't hurt that he was easy on the eye.

"All the non-loved up losers amongst us are going out for a drink later, you coming? It could be fun…" he asked, trying to get her to join them.

Rory looked at him for a moment, it wasn't like she had any other plans for the evening. "Sure, why not."

"Great, I'll stop by your desk later and collect you. I'll even buy you a drink" he said, "How does a Slow Comfortable Screw sound?"

"It sounds just what the doctor ordered" she giggled.

Rory smiled at Marcus as she walked away went back to her call.

"What's going on Ace?" Logan asked. He'd heard the entire exchange. Rory wasn't quite as good at covering up the microphone as she had hoped.

"Oh just a colleague wanting to talk to me about something," Rory said.

"Oh right. So any big V-day plans tonight?" he asked, knowing that she had just made some with some guy at her office.

"Well I didn't have any, but things are starting to look up. Look I had better go, I've got tons to get done here before I finish so, I'll talk to you soon, yeah?"

"Sure, speak soon," Logan said as they ended the call.

Logan sat on the bed in the Paris apartment belonging to Odette. He didn't want to be there. He didn't know why he was there, or why he let himself get into this situation. There was nothing wrong with Odette, she was a perfectly lovely girl but he didn't love her, it was just easy companionship and there had been times he'd felt very lonely in London. Where he really wanted to be right now was with Rory, but it wasn't an option and instead he had to try and push the thoughts of her and this other guy out of his head. He knew he had absolutely no right to be jealous.

* * *

After work, she went to the bar with Marcus and some of their other colleagues as planned. They had a few drinks and lamented their single statuses while they mercilessly mocked the loved up couples around them. Rory found her thoughts slipping to Logan several times throughout the evening but she tried to push them out of her mind and it helped that Marcus was being a welcome distraction.

As Rory sat talking to him she thought about how good looking he was and the fact that he was just her type - well read, interesting, funny. She considered the fact that if Logan hadn't been on the scene then she would definitely be interested in him. Then she caught herself and realised, that actually, Logan wasn't really on the scene at all so later when she was dancing with Marcus in the bar and he moved in to kiss her, she let him and when he asked her if she wanted to get out of there, she willingly obliged. They had headed straight back to Marcus's apartment where they had spent most of the night exploring each other's bodies, and Rory had to admit to herself that it was good, it was really good.

When she awoke the next morning she was a little confused to where she was but then she remembered the bar, the dancing, the kiss and the night of hot sex that had followed. Rory looked down at the sheet that was covering her naked body and then across at the guy that was still sleeping next to her. Valentine's Day hadn't turned out to be the big disappointment she thought it would be. She'd had a fun night with Marcus and the sex had been super hot. It was just the release she had needed after a frustrating few weeks. Her only real disappointment was that she had hoped that it would take her mind off Logan, but it hadn't helped one tiny bit.

* * *

A/N: As it's FriYAY I thought I'd throw another chapter out there for you...I've been really busy on this story and am currently working on Chapter 17 so feeling the need to move it on a bit so you can get to where I am, ha! But Eight chapters in five days, not bad huh! I don't like to keep people waiting... Enjoy!


	9. Chapter Nine

_March 2016_

Rory spent the next few weeks completely burying herself in her new job and on a couple of odd occasions, having some extra fun with Marcus. She had made it absolutely clear to him that this was not going to turn into a boyfriend/girlfriend thing, that it really was just fun for her and to her relief, he was more than happy with that. He wasn't looking for anything serious either having not long come out of a long-term relationship.

She was stood in her apartment getting ready to meet up with him one night when her phone rang and she absentmindedly picked it up without looking at who was calling.

"Hello?" she said as she tried to fix in her earrings with one hand.

"Ace"

"Oh Logan!" she said with a smile. She hadn't actually spoken to him in a few weeks, although things had settled and they were back to exchanging the odd flirty and suggestive message.

"So, this Vegas thing…how do you fancy taking an actual trip to Vegas?" he asked her with a smile.

"Huh?" Rory said confused.

"Las Vegas. You know, the original sin city. We're having a kind of mini Life and Death Brigade reunion and I thought it might be fun if you came along. I know the gang would love to see you and of course, I'd like to spend some time with you too" he added.

"Oh, I don't know Logan…" Rory said as she wrinkled her nose. "I mean, won't it be a little difficult? They must know you have a girlfriend and…"

"Nobody needs to know anything about us Ace" Logan interrupted what she was saying.

"When is this supposed trip?" she asked.

"This weekend? Now don't say no, I've already booked you a flight, the tickets are being Fed-Exed to you as we speak. I'm going to be flying in direct to Vegas from London so I'll meet you there. We're staying at the Bellagio, it's booked under my name" he said.

"We're sharing a room? Won't that be kind of obvious?" Rory asked him.

"I've booked two rooms Ace" he smiled "Though I'm kind of hoping we won't need one of them…" he said suggestively.

* * *

Against her better judgement, Rory agreed to take the trip to Vegas with Logan, cursing her weakness and inability to say no to him. When Friday arrived, she packed up her bags and hopped on her flight. When she got off at the other end and walked through arrivals, she was surprised to see that Logan was there waiting for her at the airport. Despite the awkwardness and distance of the past few months, she was more than a little excited to see him and she bounded over to him throwing her arms around his neck.

"Happy to see me?" he smiled.

"Just a bit" she smiled back.

"Come on, let's go," he said as he took her bag out her hand and led her outside to the waiting limo that took them straight to the Bellagio.

Once she got settled in her room they headed straight out to meet their old college friends. Logan was absolutely right, nobody was any wiser about their actual relationship status. They were all just happy to see, that after all these years, there was no animosity between Rory and Logan and that they there were all able to be friends together once again.

As the drinks flowed, the group started to discuss their various relationship statuses. Not one of them had actually managed to settle down yet so it made for a very interesting subject. Both Rory and Logan felt a little uncomfortable about the way the conversation was going, neither really wanting to answer questions in front of the over.

Steph turned to Rory. "So come on Rory, who are you seeing at the moment? Is it Tom or Marcus? Or is it still both? Whatever happened to that Ryan guy?" she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at her friend.

"Rory Gilmore! I never had you down as a player" Finn wriggled his eyebrows at her.

Rory shifted uncomfortably in her seat. While Logan was fully aware that she wasn't living a life of celibacy when she was away from him, she'd never actually discussed the specifics. Logan looked at her across the table, interested to see how she answered.

"Erm, they were just a casual thing. Ryan is a friend and I've not seen Tom in ages…" she bit her lip nervously.

"But you've not given Marcus up have you huh? And I'm SO not surprised from what you told me!" Steph giggled.

"What!" Juliet squealed. "I need to know!"

"Nothing!" Rory said as she sent Steph a warning look.

"Oh, we're all friends here…" Steph said wafting her arms around. "Last time I saw Rory she was regaling me with stories of his sexual prowess…" she winked

Rory rolled her eyes "I don't think that's exactly how it was."

"Oh come on, I believe you said, and I quote - that it was so good you almost forgot your own name" Steph smirked.

Rory closed her eyes briefly – it was all completely true, she couldn't deny it. Marcus had turned out to be one hell of a lover and had given her many mind-blowing orgasms in the past month or so, but it really wasn't something she felt comfortable discussing in front of Logan, even if they were just FWBs and he had a girlfriend of his own.

"Right, can we please change the subject?" she asked.

"No!" Finn said, "This is just getting good…I'm loving hearing about this side of Rory."

Steph smiled. "I know right, and Rory hasn't even told you how she let him put…"

"Steph!" Rory warned.

"I'm just kidding!" Steph said.

"Okay," Rory said standing up "You guys can carry on, I'm going to the little girl's room and pretend this conversation never happened."

"Spoilsport" Finn called after her.

Rory left the table and went to find the restrooms. Logan waited a respectable amount of time before getting up from the table and following her but none of their friends were stupid, they'd all noticed the tension at the table.

"Interesting…Someone is jealous" Colin said with a smirk as they watched Logan head in the same direction as Rory.

"You think?" Juliet asked. She was always the last to catch on.

"Oh please, they are still so into each other it's untrue" Rosemary sighed.

"Doesn't he have a girlfriend now?" Robert asked.

"Like that matters" Steph laughed.

* * *

Logan caught up with Rory outside the restrooms and looked at her closely. "Ryan? Tom? Marcus? How many others are there Rory?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Vegas," she said firmly, reminding him of their agreement.

"Yes, yes Vegas, but I want to know…" Logan said. "You didn't hold back from asking me about Odette…" he reminded her.

Rory sighed. "What is it you want to know?"

"When did you…I mean was it before me…after me?" he asked.

"Logan…" That wasn't a question she really wanted to answer.

"Rory," he said. He wanted to know.

"You really want to know? Fine. Ryan, I never slept with him, we fooled around sometimes – do you want the exact parameters of that or are we good?"

"We're good," Logan said. He'd done enough fooling around to know what it meant.

Rory shook her head and continued. "I slept with Tom a handful of times but not in the past three months. Marcus? We work together, but we go out once a week or so…"

"You're still sleeping with him?" Logan asked.

Rory scoffed at him. "Are you still sleeping with Odette?" she asked with a hand on her hip.

"Touche" he smiled.

She smiled back at him. "Look Logan. I didn't tell you about them because that's not what we do, is it? We have an agreement which has been working just fine, right?"

"I guess…" Logan said.

Rory moved closer to him so that she was learning right in. "A girl has needs Logan and whilst you are undeniably good at meeting them, you're not always around to help," she said "So I see Marcus every now and again and he helps to…relieve the tension"

"Oh yeah? And just how good is he at relieving that tension?" Logan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Good, but he's not you, that's for sure" she whispered into his ear.

Logan felt something stir in his pants as her warm breath touched his neck. "And are you feeling the tension right now," he asked her as he ran his hand up her thigh and under her skirt before he toyed gently with the edge of her lace panties.

"Uh huh," she said as she became a little breathless from his touch.

"Then" he whispered as he ran his finger along the lace "perhaps you should call your friend Marcus," he said as he pulled away sharply with a smirk, leaving her breathless and open-mouthed leaning against the wall as he walked away and went back to the group.

Rory composed herself and followed a few minutes later. The group eyed the pair of them suspiciously. Something had definitely gone down while they were away from the table and while Logan looked smug and self-satisfied, there was no denying it, Rory looked pissed.

After another drink, Rory turned to the girls. "Hey ladies, do you fancy going dancing? I could do with letting my hair down a bit" she said looking at Logan.

"Sure, sounds fun to me," Steph said, "Boys, are you coming with us?"

They all walked to a nearby club, where the drinks continued to flow and the girls spent all night dancing. While they had been out there dancing, they had attracted the attention of some guys who started to dance with them and after a while, things got a bit heated when the boys spotted Rory who had started to make out with one of the guys on the dance floor.

"Wow," Finn said "She is definitely not the girl she once was. I wouldn't mind having a crack at that myself" he smirked "You know, if she wasn't your ex and all that. Bro code of course."

Logan sent his friend a death stare as he picked up his drink and knocked it back. If Rory was trying to wind him up, she was doing an excellent job of it. He tried not to watch her out there dancing and kissing this guy but his eyes were drawn to her. After a while, she broke away and sat down next to Logan in the booth.

"Having fun?" he turned to her.

Rory shrugged "I am. I mean, he'll fill the time, until I see Marcus again" she smiled sweetly at him, but under the table, she moved her hand and rubbed it gently up Logan's thigh. He felt himself harden instantly as she teased her fingers closer and rested her hand just where she could feel his arousal.

"You know" she leaned in to whisper in his ear "You feel kind of….tense yourself. I could have helped with that tonight but…" she offered him a sympathetic smile. "Anyhow, I had better go," Rory said before removing her hand and standing up "Kyle over there is waiting for me" she smiled.

He watched as she walked away from the booth. Rory felt the smug satisfaction of getting her own back. She had absolutely no intention of ending the night with Kyle but it was pretty good fun driving Logan a little crazy.

Later Logan went to Rory's hotel room. He had seen Kyle leave the club so he knew that they hadn't left together. He knocked at the door and leaned against the doorframe as she opened the door.

"Are we done with the teasing portion of the night now? Can I just fuck you already?" he said with a smirk.

Rory grabbed him and pulled him into her room. There were many nights when sex between Rory and Logan had been slow and sensuous. Tonight was not going to one of them. The past two months things had been difficult between them but now they were here together and the need and desire was primal.

They headed straight over to the bed where they both swiftly removed their clothes before standing in front of each other. Rory sighed softly as Logan pressed his lips to hers. She parted them a little and felt his tongue slide into her mouth. Logan moved them back onto the bed until Rory was lying down and he was positioned over her. She looked down as he gently bit down on her nipple and she gasped, arching her back as he kissed his way over to her other breast. She lifted her hips off the bed and pressed them upwards to meet his, feeling his hardness against her. She bit her lip and arched her back again as he moved his hand between her legs and slowly traced circles in her wetness which instantly drove her wild. This is what she needed from him, she needed it desperately but she really wanted to come when he was inside her.

"I want you in me, please Logan," she said breathlessly as he leaned down kissing and biting on her neck.

Logan's eyes locked with Rory's as she ran her fingers down his back and over his ass, urging him to give her what she wanted. Their lips met once again as she felt him move inside her and start to thrust into her but after a few minutes, he pulled away and with one deep kiss he flipped her over onto her hands and knees. Rory pushed her hips back towards him and bit her lip as she felt Logan grab hold of her hips and enter her again. She dropped her head to rest on the pillow and moaned into it as she felt his grip tighten and the pace increased. Logan used one hand to tangle in her hair and the other her dug into her hips. Rory was acutely aware that she'd probably have some bruises the next day but she didn't care one little bit. Logan slowed the pace for a moment and moved his hand around between her legs and began to massage her again. Rory grabbed the sheets with her hands as she bit into the pillow to stop herself from screaming too loud. As Logan started to pound into her harder, she felt her body tighten as she came, hard. As she was just about recovering from her high, she felt Logan's fingers dig into her hips even harder as he pulled her closer to him and finally she felt his body tense and jerk as he spilled into her. After a couple of moments, Logan let go of his grip on her and ran his hands up her sides gently, leaning on her back he kissed her shoulder as he pulled out and they lay down on the bed facing each other.

Logan pushed back her hair out of her face and looked at her. Rory was the only woman he had ever loved and sometimes he felt that he'd never love anyone ever again in the way that he had loved her. It was at times like this when everything felt right between them, everything was perfect but in the cold light of day, things would be different, for she wasn't his and he wasn't hers. They were just borrowing each other for the night.

"I am so glad you decided to come to Vegas," Logan said, his arm draped lazily over her hip.

She smiled and looked at him. "So am I"

Logan lay there for a little bit longer, tracing slow circles on Rory's back until he heard her breathing slow and he knew that she had fallen asleep. He leaned over and kissed her gently on the top of her head before he climbed out of the bed. He really didn't want to leave her there but they didn't want to arouse any suspicions amongst their friends so he knew he needed to go back to his own room. He put his clothes on before tiptoeing out of the room, stopping just to glance back at her sleeping peacefully in the bed before he closed the door behind him.


	10. Chapter Ten

The next morning Rory awoke to a Logan-less bed. She had slept soundly through the night and she hadn't heard him get up and leave but she could take a good guess why he was absent from her room. She picked up her phone from the bedside table and saw that he had sent her a message.

 _"Morning Ace, sorry I snuck out on you, I thought it was for the best. See you at breakfast x"_

Rory hopped into the shower and sat down under the warm water as it cascaded over her. A couple of months ago, after talking to Lane, she had been considering stopping this thing, whatever it was, with Logan. Then things had started to take a turn for the worse between them and she'd thought that perhaps it would all die a death on its own, but coming out to Vegas, she felt like she had just fallen down the rabbit hole all over again. She cursed herself for being so weak but she just couldn't help herself around Logan. He made her feel good, and not just in the bedroom, but in life in general. He was so supportive and he was absolutely her biggest cheerleader, but it was becoming too hard to try and ignore the fact that he now had a girlfriend. Rory hadn't really minded being one of the many but she didn't feel great about now being the other woman because now it was cheating. She dried herself off, got dressed and headed down to breakfast to join everyone.

When she got there, all their friends were already sitting at the table eating. She took the last empty seat next to Robert, which happened to be at the opposite end of the table from Logan who was busy typing a message on his phone. He looked up at her as she sat down and smiled in her direction.

"Coffee?" Robert asked her as he held out the pot.

"Have we met?!" she joked as he filled up her cup. "What's going on this morning?" she said to nobody in particular as she looked over the menu trying to decide what to have.

"We're just planning what we're going to do today. Us girls were thinking of hitting the shops for a few hours, then perhaps coming back to the hotel for a swim before we all go out to dinner tonight" Steph said, "Are you up for that?"

"Sure" Rory smiled. She looked forward to spending some time with just the girls for a change. "Sounds like fun."

After breakfast was all finished and done with, the girls headed off as they had planned to spend some of their hard-earned cash while the boys went off in search of some more high-octane pursuits. Rory enjoyed the shopping trip with the girls. They had all splurged on new outfits for their dinner that night and it had given them an opportunity to catch up on their gossip. Steph, Rosemary and Juliet had wanted to ask Rory about Logan and if there was anything going on there, but none of them had been brave enough to bring it up. They did, however, notice that Rory changed the subject whenever his name was mentioned. It had been a good shopping trip, but Rory was pretty glad when it was finally time to call it a day and they could head back to the hotel to take a well-deserved dip in the pool.

After dropping their bags off in their rooms and getting changed into their swimwear, they headed down to one the pool area to find that the boys were already there, lounging on the day beds.

"Hey, we didn't expect you boys to be here! We thought you'd be losing all your cash in a casino somewhere or watching scantily clad ladies dance around and losing all your cash that way…" Rosemary joked.

"Ladies, ladies, ladies," Finn said with his arms outstretched "Did you seriously think we'd miss the chance to see the four hottest girls in Vegas in their bikinis?"

Steph rolled her eyes "Flattery will get you nowhere Finn."

"You can't blame a boy for trying" Finn shrugged as Steph whipped him with her towel.

Rory walked over and dropped her towel down on the bed next to Logan, who looked up at her appreciatively, taking in the sight of her in a bikini. It didn't matter that he'd seen her naked a million times, she still had the ability to take his breath away.

"Did you have a good day?" he asked her casually.

"Yeah, it was fun." she smiled. "Are you coming for a swim?" she asked as she walked over and sat on the edge of the pool with her toes just dipping in the water.

"Maybe in a minute," he said over the top of his book.

"Okay," she shrugged as she submerged herself under the water. The cool water felt great on her skin after a day in the Vegas heat.

Logan watched her slip into the pool and float in the water for a little bit before he decided that he could wait no longer. He put down the book he had been reading and jumped in. He looked over at his friends who were busy talking to each other and catching Rory's eye he gestured at her to move towards the large fountain that was in in the middle of the pool.

She followed him over and soon as she got there, he grabbed hold of her and kissed her hard, pushing her behind the waterfall that was cascading out of the top of the fountain.

"Logan! Someone will see us" she said as she looked around.

"Relax, they can't see us from where they are sitting," he said as he placed his hands on her hips, and played with the strings of her bikini bottoms.

Rory looked up and realized that they were they were positioned meant that they were indeed completely hidden from view. "Okay, but just one minute or they'll notice that we're gone…" she said as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and allowed herself to melt into his kiss. They pressed their bodies up against each other as their tongues explored each other's mouths.

"Is that all you got in the water for?" she said as she pulled away from him.

"It was worth it" he smiled. "We need to make excuses after dinner tonight"

"What? Why?" Rory looked at him.

"They're all planning to go out after dinner, but I want us to be alone. We're going home tomorrow and who knows when we'll see each other again…" Logan reasoned.

Rory felt her heart sink a little at the thought of going home. She was really enjoying it here, away from reality, but she was somewhat buoyed by the thought of Logan wanting to spend more time alone with her later.

"Okay" she smiled. "but right now we had better get back around there," she said.

"You go, I need a moment" Logan rolled his eyes.

Rory looked at him quizzically "What's the problem?"

"I have a little issue" he laughed "down there" he pointed under the water.

"Logan!" Rory shrieked.

"It's not my fault! You look smokin' hot in that bikini and you've just been rubbing yourself all over my body, what's a guy to do!" he shrugged.

Rory shook her head at him and laughed as she swam away.

* * *

That night Logan and Rory went to dinner with the rest of their friends. It had been difficult spending time around them during the day without being able to touch each other, apart from their quick kiss in the pool and now Rory was counting down the minutes until they could be alone again. She had spent ages getting herself ready for the night out and was pleased with the new dress that she had bought when she had been out with the girls. It was a simple sapphire blue halterneck dress with a flippy skirt that swished around when she walked but it was sexy and fun and she felt great in it. She had curled her hair, put on some makeup and killer heels and met her friends in the lobby for dinner.

Sat at the table, they had been discussing some of the latest books that they had read. Given she was a huge book addict, this was definitely a subject Rory could get into, that was - if it wasn't for Logan's hand currently distracting her by moving under her skirt. She shifted in her seat and shot a look at him. He let a small smile out of the corner of his mouth and he slid his hand further between her thighs.

"Have you read that one Rory?" Robert asked.

Rory's head snapped up at the sound of her name. "What was that? I missed that?" she asked, trying to keep a poker face as Logan slipped his fingers under the lace of her panties.

"The Kite Runner," Rosemary said. "I just read it on holiday last month"

"Oh, erm, yeah I have" she smiled at her friend a little as she tried to concentrate on the conversation that was happening around her and not the fact that Logan's fingers were between her legs, tracing circles at an excruciatingly slow pace. She could feel her breath quicken and with it, so did his fingers.

Rory picked her up her water glass to take a sip and almost dropped it as his fingers began sliding up and down, in and out in slow, deliberate strokes. She could feel the pleasure rising in her and her moisture on his fingers. Her cheeks felt hot and she hoped she wasn't blushing. All she wanted to do was get out of there and get Logan back to her hotel room. She looked across at Logan who was still casually talking to his friends and eating with his spare hand and she couldn't believe he could act so normally.

She bit her lip as his fingers moved inside her and she tightened her hold on her glass. She was feeling so close to the edge and very glad that the conversation had now moved away from her. Logan used his thumb to deliberately rub against her and she moved her glass to her mouth to disguise the whimper that she let out as her body shuddered and she came, right there at the table. She glanced at Logan who smirked at her as he casually removed his hand and then in a daring move, he brought his finger to his mouth and licked his finger as he smiled at her. Her cheeks flushed hotly and Rory looked at him open-mouthed, speechless that she had just let Logan do that to her at the dinner table while at the same time feeling altogether satisfied but ready for more.

Juliet looked up at Rory "Are you okay Rory, you look a bit flushed?"

"Oh, I um…I am just a little bit hot" she said as she fanned her face with the cocktail menu. "Actually, I don't feel all that well" she lied, "I think I might call it a night," she said as she put her napkin down on the table.

"You know what, I'll walk you back to the hotel," Logan said, faking concern.

"Honestly, I'm okay, you really don't have to do that," she said.

"You're obviously not well…you might be going down with something" Logan said as he stood up. His friends exchanged knowing glances.

"Oh, well, okay" Rory smiled at the rest of the table. "Sorry to be a party pooper…" she said as she picked up her bag and Logan followed her away from the table.

"Something is going down tonight and I bet it's not Rory" Finn laughed as they watched them walk out of the restaurant.

Once they were out of earshot, Rory turned to Logan. "You are unbelievable"

"Why thank you," Logan said smugly.

Rory shook her head and laughed "I cannot believe you did that! Do you think they knew? What if we had got caught?"

"It was fun though right?" he smirked as he kissed her on the cheek. "Come on," he said as he grabbed her by the hand. "We're free, let's go!"

* * *

A/N: A double dose of Vegas fun for you today ❤️


	11. Chapter Eleven

Logan and Rory headed out to a casino at another hotel where they laughed and drank all night, just having fun and enjoying each other's company. The drinks went down a little too well and it wasn't long before Rory was a little unsteady on her feet and Logan was definitely erring on the side of having indulged a little too much. They decided to walk back towards their hotel to get some fresh air and when they got there, they paused to watch the fountains at the Bellagio, dancing around to the lights and music. Logan wrapped his arms around her waist as they stood admiring them.

Rory laid her head back so that it was resting on his shoulder. "You know, this could be a really romantic moment if we were in love" she laughed and hiccupped.

Logan smiled. "I'm not sure I've ever really thought of Vegas, the home of debauchery and sin, as a destination for romance Ace."

"Oh I don't know, I think anywhere can be romantic when you're with the right person and lots of people seem to do crazy things here in the name of love" she gestured towards a couple that were wearing a just married sign. "I wonder how many people live to regret that decision" she laughed.

"Could you imagine what our families would say if one of us did that?" Logan laughed. "We should do it just for fun, just to see their faces."

Rory threw her head back laughing "Come on then, lets live life on the edge!"

"What!" Logan said as Rory turned around to face him.

"There's a chapel just over there" she shrugged with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"You cannot be serious" he laughed. "I bet you wouldn't…"

"Do you want me to take that bet?" Rory asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There's absolutely no way you'd go through with it, you'll back out" Logan shook his head laughing.

"Someone once said to me that I looked like I needed a little more adventure in my life," she said with a raised eyebrow. "So here it is, I'm being more adventurous. Let's live in the moment Huntzberger" she teased.

"Come on then," he said to her as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

Logan called a limo to collect them so they could go get their marriage licence and on the way back they laughed as they enjoyed a bottle of champagne in the back of the car. When they limo got back to the Bellagio, he jumped out and helped a wobbly Rory out of the car.

"Okay, now's the time to back out…" he said to her.

"And lose the bet?! Never!" she giggled and hiccupped.

"Fine, let's go," he said as he grabbed her hand.

They ran across the road to the chapel, pulling two witnesses off the street as they did. Someone gave Rory a veil to wear as she was going in and Logan helped to fix it in her hair. Fifteen minutes later and the deed was done. They walked out of the chapel and stopped to take a selfie of themselves on Rory's phone before they headed back across the road to their hotel.

Rory and Logan made it up to their floor and they were laughing and fumbling with the room key just as Colin was walking back to his room. He looked at the two of them.

"What is going on with you two?" he said surveying the scene.

"Nothing," Logan said as he tried to keep a straight face while trying to keep Rory upright.

"What's with the veil" Colin pointed at Rory.

"Oh, this? Someone gave it me" Rory smiled.

Colin rubbed his head with his hand. "You two haven't done something stupid have you?"

"Ssh" Rory said as she pressed her finger to her lips and giggled.

Logan finally got the key to work and the door to his hotel room flew open.

"You two need to go sleep this off," Colin said to his friends as he shook his head and walked to his own room.

* * *

The next morning they both woke up with what could be described as the world's worst hangovers. Rory slowly lifted her head off the pillow and groaned wondering what on earth was digging into her head. She put her hand up to retrieve whatever it was that was causing her pain and pulled it down to look at it. A veil? What the hell did she have that on her head for she wondered thinking how weird it was. And then she gasped as all of a sudden reality hit and she remembered just what they had done the night before. She and Logan had only gone and got married. Suddenly in the cold light of day, it didn't seem quite so hilarious.

"Yep, that's right Ace," Logan said as she sat down on the bed next to her.

"Ugh, well, that wasn't the brightest idea. Was it yours or mine?" she grimaced.

"I think it might have been yours initially but from my hazy memories, I think it ended up being a joint moment of madness after a crazy bet" he laughed.

Rory clutched her head. "Who won the bet?"

"You did" Logan laughed.

"I really don't feel much like a winner right now," she said as she massaged her temples hoping to take some of the pain away.

"Here, take these," he said as he handed her a glass of water and two aspirin.

She drank the water that he gave her and they lay back down on the bed and drifted off to sleep to try and see off the rest of the hangover.

A little while later and Rory awoke. She looked across at a sleeping Logan and suddenly she felt overwhelmed with emotion. They were going to be going home in a few hours, back to their own individual lives and she knew that this would possibly be goodbye for them – despite the fact that they had obviously exchanged some form of wedding vows last night. She leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips and as she did, Logan opened his eyes to look at her. They lay there for a moment just looking into each other's eyes.

"Make love to me Logan" she whispered as she brought her hands up to meet his face and kissed him once again.

He looked at her taken aback by her words. They'd spent the past year meeting up whenever they could, but not once had they ever called what they were doing making love. Somehow the words carried more weight.

Logan didn't need to be asked twice.

He leaned toward her with his lips slightly parted and their mouths met in a tender kiss that he gradually deepened by pushing his tongue into her mouth. Logan wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him so that Rory was pressed up against his chest and she slowly ran her hands through his hair and traced her fingers down his spine. Their kisses became more and more passionate as she could feel his hardness pressing against her, and Rory began to slowly grind herself on him in response, eliciting an approving groan from Logan.

He gently pushed Rory on to her back and moved so that he was positioned between her legs. He gently kissed her on the lips one more time before he slowly started to make his way down her body, leaving no part of her unloved. As he gently kissed her breasts he looked up into her eyes, her hands were in his hair and she pulled him back upwards her to kiss him.

Rory's hips pushed up towards him and Logan recognized it as a sign that she was becoming truly aroused. He slid into her slowly and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he started making tender, sweet love to her, nestling his head against hers. As he pushed himself deeper into and then out of her, my hips began to rise to meet his thrusts. One slow thrust blended straight into another, forming a steady rhythm before Logan pulled back for a moment, not wanting it to be all over too quickly.

He paused to run his fingers through her hair and he planted kisses on her forehead and over her lips before licking a trail of sweat on the side of her neck. Logan pushed back into her and Rory gasped at the sensation, pressing her body against his. One of his hands moved along her side and down her leg, nudging her thigh higher and driving into her deeper. Rory dropped her head back as she felt her orgasm approaching.

"Oh God, it feels so good!" she said lifting her head to look him in the face

With one hand Logan reached down and massaged between her legs, while his cock was rubbing her from the inside, his thrusts becoming shorter and harder as he got closer to the edge. Rory squeezed her eyes shut, letting out a scream as her body finally gave in to the sensations and she quivered with an earth-shattering orgasm like she had never experienced. The sound of Rory's pleasure and the contractions of her orgasm were enough to finish him off and help Logan to achieve his own release. As they both came down, their lips met in a passionate kiss that didn't end until stop until their heart rate started to slow down to a normal pace down and they finally relaxed onto each other, breathing hard.

* * *

Rory and Logan quickly showered and got dressed to head down to lunch with their friends. They held hands all the way there but let of each other as they approached the restaurant. When they reached the table they were met with inquisitive looks from their friends. Nobody asked but everyone suspected where the two of them had been and exactly what they had been doing.

Colin looked at them both with a raised eyebrow and Logan discretely shook his head, signalling to his friend not to mention what he might have witnessed the night before.

They all made light conversation at the table and after lunch was finished, it was time for them to pack up and all off to head to the airport and onward to their various destinations.

"Well I guess this is goodbye", Rory said to Logan, as they headed through security "It has been a good weekend" she smiled.

"Goodbye for now or goodbye forever?" Logan looked at her. He could sense what was coming. He had felt it as soon as they had left the safety of his hotel room that morning.

"Logan…" Rory paused and put her hand gently on his chest "We can't do this forever…" she bit her lip to stop the tears that were threatening to escape from her eyes.

Logan picked up on the hint of sadness in her voice. "What do you mean Rory?" he asked.

"This" she shrugged her shoulders at him. "I know that this crazy Vegas agreement was all my idea and you just went along with it. I take full responsibility for that but…I can't do it anymore Logan. It's getting too hard to keep saying goodbye, never knowing when I'll see you again…and now there's…" she stopped, not wanting to say the name of his girlfriend out loud. It would make it too real.

Logan looked down at the floor. He didn't want it to end here, not like this. "Hey, let's not decide anything now, okay?" he said as he kissed the top of her head. "Let's just leave at this – it's been an amazing weekend"

Rory took a deep breath. "It has been an incredible weekend. And I even got married for the first time" she rolled her eyes "My grandmother will be so proud of me."

"Don't worry about any of that. Colin will be able to get it annulled for us; people do crazy shit like this all the time. I'll get it sorted." Logan smiled.

Rory nodded. "Okay," she said staring down at the floor. She couldn't bring herself to look up at him, for fear of crying or saying something she might regret.

"Take care Ace," Logan said as he squeezed her hand before they separated and went off to their separate gates.


	12. Chapter Twelve

_June 2016_

After their trip to Vegas, they returned to their homes and jobs and got back on with their normal lives.

Logan had assured Rory that he'd deal with the annulment and neither of them felt particularly panicked about it as there was plenty of time in the scheme of things, neither of them were exactly racing down the aisle towards anyone else and Colin had said it was pretty much a case of just filing some paperwork.

Over the couple of months that had passed since their trip, Rory had been really busy with work and so she never really found that much time to speak to Logan, but they did send the occasional email to each other and exchanged text messages on a near daily basis. However, they hadn't spoken about their almost-goodbye at the airport again.

That morning, Rory was sitting at her desk at Conde Nast when her cell phone rang. She looked at the number calling and realized that it was her friend Meredith who was still based at the New York Post where Rory had worked for a short while. Meredith had called her up to let her know that she had heard through the grapevine that HPG had just bought the New York Post and she thought this was of interest would be of some interest to Rory given her history with them. There was going to be a launch event with the new owners and Meredith had asked Rory if she wanted to come along with her which is why just a few days later, Rory found herself dolled up to the nines at a swanky industry party with Meredith and Marcus who had come along with her. As she was getting ready that night it had occurred to her that Logan might be at the party. He had called her a few times that week but she had missed him and had not got around to calling him back. She felt a bit conflicted, on one hand, she really wanted to see him on the other hand, she had been getting used to the distance that was between them over the past few months and now she felt that seeing him would set her back.

They walked into the party and headed straight over to the bar, where they had to wait in a huge queue to get a drink. As they waited for the queue to move, they looked around the room to check out who else was in attendance. Events like this were a hot ticket in their industry.

"Ooh, hottie alert!" Meredith said. "I wonder who he is!"

"Who? Where?" Rory said trying to see who her friend was talking about. She looked across the room and spied Logan talking with some people that she didn't know.

"Rumor has it, that's your new boss Meredith. Logan Huntzberger, I've seen him in the newspapers" Marcus's voice behind Rory made her jump as he put his hands on her waist.

Rory felt herself cringe a little at his touch. She really should have thought longer before she let Marcus tag along with them. The night had the potential to be very awkward given that she had two of her FWB's in the same room and one of them was currently trying to wrap himself around her. She hadn't slept with Marcus since before Vegas but that didn't stop him trying it on with her.

"He's looking over here," Meredith said "Do you know him?" she said as she turned to Rory.

Logan looked across at Rory. He had tried to let her know he was coming to New York but hadn't been able to get hold of her. He hadn't expected her to show up at this event, but here she was and she was looking incredibly sexy. He watched as the man she was with leaned it to talk closely to her, running his hand up and down her arm, the other hand holding on to her waist. Logan wanted to go over there and stake his claim on her but what claim did he have? Nobody in the room knew about them, nobody knew how close they once were or how close they had been over the past year. Or indeed the fact that legally she was his wife.

Rory cleared her throat "Yeah…we, erm, we went to Yale together" she smiled. Oh and I'm also married to him, she thought to herself, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Let's go say hi…" Meredith said as she pulled Rory over to the other side of the room and bounded over to Logan.

"Hi, Mr Huntzberger? I'm Meredith Swann, I work in the lifestyle section here at the Post…and this is…"

Logan smiled. "Rory…we already know each other. Nice to see you again" he said as he leaned in to politely kiss her on the cheek, brushing the small of her back with his hand. "You're looking damn hot tonight Mrs Huntzberger" he whispered in her ear.

Rory's breath hitched and she blushed a little as he called her that. "It's nice to see you too," she said.

"Who's your friend," Logan asked.

"Oh, this is Marcus. He works with me at Conde Nast" she said as she bit her lip nervously.

"Oh," Logan said as he met her eyes, remembering exactly who Marcus was from their conversation in Vegas.

They stood and made pleasant conversation for a little while, discussing relevant but somewhat dull industry topics, before Rory excused herself to go to the ladies. She didn't really need to use the restrooms; she just needed to give herself a breather and so she sat in a cubicle for a moment to compose herself. As she was sitting there, she heard her cell phone beep in her bag. She pulled it out to find a message from Logan.

"Meet me upstairs? Room 705"

Rory looked at the message. Every part of her was screaming to tell him no, she couldn't go upstairs to meet him, that this wasn't what she wanted anymore, but she could feel that pull, dragging her towards him. It was always too strong for her to resist. She stepped out of the cubicle, washed her hands and took the elevator upstairs.

* * *

She stood outside the room and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She waited for a moment before Logan opened the door.

"Hi," he said as he looked at he standing there.

"Hi," she said back to him as she walked into the room.

"I've really missed you, Rory," Logan said as he kissed her and ran his hands over her body.

"I missed you too but Logan…" Rory couldn't believe she was there again, with Logan touching her, making her incapable of rational thought. It felt good when he kissed her, so very good. She knew that one of them ought to be the voice of reason; she knew that they shouldn't be doing this, but she also knew that it wasn't going to be her that stopped it, not tonight. Her control was slipping by the second. She turned her head and looked away for a moment trying to gain some clarity.

"What's the matter, Rory?" Logan said as he gingerly put his fingers underneath her chin and turn her head to look at him.

Rory recognized the look on his face. He wanted her, he really wanted her. She opened her mouth to say something but as soon as she did she couldn't remember what it was she was going to say. She looked at him. Maybe just one kiss wouldn't hurt. She put her hands on his face and pulled him close to her. Logan grabbed hold of her waist as their lips met and Rory allowed the kiss to deepen. She loved kissing Logan, she loved the way it felt when he was pressed against her. His hands were everywhere, in her hair, grabbing her ass and it felt like she was exactly where she was meant to be.

"You look so beautiful tonight," Logan said as he reached around and started to unzip Rory's dress, letting it fall to the floor as she worked on unbuttoning his shirt, pushing it off his shoulders when she reached the last button. He unbuttoned his trousers and pushed them down until they joined the rest of the clothes on the floor.

Logan reached around to unhook her bra and ran his hands up and down her back as he discarded it on the floor. He kissed her neck, making her gasp and then moan at the pleasure before he worked his way down her body until he was on his knees in front of her. He looked up at her, their eyes meeting, as he hooked his fingers into the side of her panties and slid them down her legs. Slowly pushing her against the wall, he kissed her between the legs before he slipped a finger inside of her.

"I can't believe how wet you are" Logan whispered.

"That's what you do to me," Rory said breathlessly as he slowly started to tease her with his tongue. It was a move that made her legs shake and she felt her knees weaken. She was sure that if the wall wasn't there to prop up, she would have fallen over.

Rory reached down with her hands to grab hold of Logan's head, pulling it closer to her. She closed her eyes to drink in the sensations as he moved his tongue into her. It felt so good. Her desire was driving her crazy, and more than anything she wanted him inside her. When she thought she could take no more for fear of her legs giving way, she pulled him up to kiss her, she could taste herself on his lips. The kiss was intoxicating and she needed more, she reached down and pushed down his shorts.

Logan picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her across to the bed. Once there, he wasted no time at all and held her tight as he pushed inside of her. For a moment they were completely still, just appreciating the sensations. Logan held her so tight against him like he didn't ever want to let her go. Rory kissed him again as he started to slowly move inside her and she moaned into his mouth. Nobody ever made her feel like this and nobody ever could. It was more than just sex – they had a deeper connection that came alive when they were together. The way Logan made her feel was so good. Rory never wanted it to never end.

Soon he increased the pace and Rory could feel herself almost there, she could tell from his movements that Logan was too. She tightened her grip on him as he thrust harder and deeper into her, biting down on his shoulder. Logan groaned in her ear. She clutched at his back and they fell into a rhythmic pattern as they both got closer to their orgasm. Logan thrust in deeper until she couldn't take anymore and he pushed her over the edge, making her scream out his name. He gripped onto her as he came hard, spilling into her.

They lay next to each other on the bed as they regained their breath, revelling in the blissful feeling but they both knew they couldn't stay there too long when there was a party going on downstairs. Logan yawned and stretched as he sat up on the edge of the bed. "I've got to say, it's really something else, making love to my wife," he said with a wink.

Rory tilted her head and him and rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Funny," she said with a smile.

They freshened up, got dressed and with one last lingering kiss before they left the room, they headed back downstairs to the party.

* * *

Rory carefully checked her appearance in a mirror outside the room before she walked back in to join Meredith at the bar. Logan was already back in the party, sipping a scotch.

"Hey! Is everything okay?" Meredith looked at her friend concerned. "You've been gone a while…"

"I really need a drink," Rory said as drummed her fingers on the bar and ordered herself a martini.

"Why are you so flushed? Where have you been?" Meredith looked at curiously.

"It's very warm in here isn't it?" Rory said as she fanned her face. "Don't you think it's warm?"

Rory looked over to where Logan was stood talking with an older man and a tall and beautiful dark haired woman. He caught her eye from across the room and discreetly tipped his glass towards her. Rory smiled and felt herself blush. She turned and picked up her martini.

Meredith looked from Rory to Logan back again. "Oh my god!" she whispered "You and him….! Did you just….?" She raised her eyebrows at her friend.

She threw an apologetic smile at Meredith "A lady doesn't kiss and tell" Rory said as she knocked back her martini.

* * *

A/N: What a nice start to Monday huh? Now, here's the thing...I was thinking today could be a two chapter day but that means if I post another tomorrow, then I'm going to leave you in a potentially quite messy place for a week...decisions decisions!

Thanks as always for your comments - I love reading them!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

The next day Rory was at work, feeling a little distracted when she checked the messages on her iPhone and saw that she had received a text message from Logan. She opened it up to see what he had to say.

"Can I see you later? While I enjoy calling you my wife, we should probably discuss this annulment. I'll arrange to see Colin while I am here to get it all finalized."

Rory smiled. She hit reply and typed out a message. "Would love to my darling husband, but no can do tonight as I have dinner with my grandparents, can I'll call you later?"

Logan responded immediately. "Sure Mrs H. Speak soon x"

Rory laughed to herself as she put the phone back in her bag. After she finished work, she got into her car for the long drive to her grandparent's house. Friday night dinners weren't the institution that they once were but they were still nice to do every now and again, especially at times like this when she hadn't actually seen them for a while.

As they sat at the table and ate dinner, Emily was full of the usual Hartford gossip and Rory had pretty much zoned out, that is until one piece of gossip, in particular, caught her attention.

"…and apparently he's only really been seeing her for a short time which does make one wonder if it's a shotgun situation but then, you know, I am not really one to gossip…" Emily trailed off.

Rory looked up and dropped her fork onto her plate. "I'm sorry grandma, what did you just say?"

"Logan…Huntzberger, he's engaged to some French heiress. It's come as quite a surprise because apparently it's all happened very quick….Rory…are you okay?" Emily looked at her granddaughter who had paled all of a sudden.

Rory spluttered and swallowed the food she had been chewing. She reached out for her glass of water and took a swig before turning back to her grandmother. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes, of course, Shira just couldn't wait to tell everyone at the club about this grand wedding that they're going to have. It will be the social event of the year I imagine. I thought you might have seen them together at your party last night, by all accounts, she attended with him…" Emily said casually.

Rory felt her knees go weak and she was only too glad that she was sitting down as her grandmother imparted this news onto her. Odette was there at the launch party last night? While Logan and she had snuck off upstairs and had sex? She could hardly comprehend the situation and her head felt fuzzy.

"Grandpa, erm, could I possibly have another glass of water," she said as she held out her glass.

"Of course. Maria, could you fetch my granddaughter another glass of iced water" he said to the maid that was hovering nearby.

"Are you sure you're okay Rory?" her grandmother asked suspiciously.

"Yes, I'm fine" she faked a smile as she regained her composure.

* * *

Rory finished up dinner with her grandparents, declining dessert and telling them she had to get back to the city but the truth was she needed to get out of there and find out what was going on. As soon as she got into her car she pulled out her phone and immediately called Logan. She waited for a moment until he eventually answered the call.

"Hey, hang on a minute, I need to take this outside," Logan said quietly.

"Oh I bet you do," Rory said under her breath.

"Okay, all clear" Logan said.

"Logan, what on earth are you playing at!"? Rory yelled at him.

Logan was surprised to hear an angry Rory shouting at him. "What do you mean?"

"You're engaged?! You're engaged to Odette and I've just found this out from my grandparents – were you ever going to tell me?" Rory said, her voice breaking a little.

Logan closed his eyes and sighed. "Rory…it's not what it sounds like. Let's meet up tomorrow, I'll explain everything then…okay?"

"No Logan, it's not okay! I'm so mad at you right now and I'm so mad at myself" she said as hot tears started to fall down her cheeks. "You didn't tell me that your girlfriend, I mean fiancé, was at the party last night! And God Logan, we had sex there, in your hotel room – a room I am presuming that she was sharing with you. All of this while your fiancé was downstairs" Rory ranted. "How do you think this makes me feel?" she said quietly.

Logan could hear the hurt in Rory's voice. "Please Rory, just meet me tomorrow"

Rory bit her lip. "I don't know Logan…" she said as she wiped her eye with the back of her hand. She was mad at herself for crying.

"I really need to talk to you about this" Logan begged.

"Okay," Rory said in a quiet voice. "I have to go now, I have to get back to the city"

"Okay, drive safely. And I'll see you tomorrow?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, sure," she said ending the call and throwing the phone onto the car seat next to her.

* * *

The next day, against all her better judgement, Rory went along to their agreed meeting place. She was apprehensive about seeing Logan and she knew that despite trying to hide the dark circles with makeup that she looked like absolute crap, having cried herself to sleep the night before. When she got there Logan was already waiting for her. She walked up to him and took a seat at the table.

"I'm glad you came. I half thought that you wouldn't show" Logan said as he looked across at her.

"I nearly didn't" she admitted with a shrug.

"Look, Rory, I am really sorry that you heard about the engagement like you did but I didn't tell you because…"

"Because you're a coward?" she interrupted.

"No," he said, "Because it's not real."

Rory looked at him. "What do you mean it's not real? What does that even mean Logan?"

"Rory, in my whole life, I have only ever loved one woman enough to propose to them, and it wasn't to Odette" Logan looked at Rory but she wouldn't meet his eye, she just looked down and fiddled with her hands.

"Then…what is going on?" she asked quietly.

"It's my mother getting carried away. Someone asked her about me and Odette and you know what she's like, she told them that we weren't far off getting married which is an absolute crock of shit. The next thing I'm hearing is that we're engaged and we're planning this huge wedding and it's not true Rory. It's not true, you have to believe me" he said as he grabbed hold of her hand.

"I really want to believe you," she said looking up at him, sadness filling her eyes.

"Then do, because it's the absolute truth," Logan said sincerely.

Rory nodded before she sighed and bit her lip. "Logan, we need to stop this. I'm not doing this anymore."

"What?" he looked at her confused.

"This. Us. I don't want to be the other woman anymore. It's destroying me, can't you see?" she said as she started to cry.

"Hey, don't cry" Logan moved around and put his arm around her shoulder.

"I know none of this is your fault, I did this to myself. I am not blaming you but this is where it has to end" Rory said as she looked him in the eyes.

Logan looked back at her. He could see that she was tormented by everything. "Okay," he nodded "If that's what you really want."

"It is, and we need to get that annulment sorted so we can move on," she said as she wiped away her tears.

"Yeah. I'll speak to Colin tomorrow" he said quietly.

"Thanks," Rory said. "I'm just going to go…" she said standing up.

"But we've not had lunch…" Logan said. He didn't want her to leave yet. He wanted more time with her.

"I'm not very hungry" she shrugged. "Bye Logan," she said as she turned her back and walked out of the restaurant.

Logan watched her leave. He couldn't believe that she was walking out of his life again and he was just letting her go. He stood up, threw some money down on the table to pay for their drinks and went to see Colin.

* * *

"I've got say Huntzberger, I never actually thought that I'd see the day that you'd be divorcing Gilmore" Colin laughed. He wasn't surprised that they were trying to get the marriage annulled, it had been a moment of madness but there was part of him that had hoped that his two friends would make it one day. They were clearly meant to be together.

"It's not funny," Logan said with his head in his hands.

"No, you are absolutely right. There's no pre-nup. If this gets out, your father will skin you alive" Colin shook his head. "I'm not sure what you two were thinking…"

"We weren't thinking, that's the problem" Logan sighed. "Anyway, it's Rory, she's not after my money…"

Colin prepared the papers required for the annulment and handed them over to Logan. "You'll need to get these signed by Rory. Logan, are you sure this is what you want?" he said as he held on to the envelope.

"Like staying married is a serious option?" Logan raised an eyebrow.

Colin shrugged. "Crazier things have happened, and this is Rory. You two will probably wind up together at some point" he smirked.

Logan shook his head. "I did think that for a while but, that's…all done now. Thanks for this mate."

"No problem," Colin said as he watched his friend leave his office.

* * *

A few days later Logan called Rory and arranged to meet her in a café near her work so that he could hand over the papers to her. He watched her walk in, she looked really pale and like she hadn't been sleeping very well at all.

"Hey," he said as she walked up to him. "Are you okay? You look a little…off"

"Yeah, I'm fine" she smiled weakly. Inside she felt anything but fine, it had been a tough few days for her since she had told Logan that she wanted out of their agreement but that wasn't something she wanted to talk about.

"Okay. Well, here, these are the papers Colin had drawn up for us. You just need to make sure you're happy with everything there and sign them. There's no need to go to court or anything, it's more of a paper trail" he said.

"Thanks" she smiled "I'll have a read over them and get them back to you as soon as possible," she said as she stuffed the papers into her bag.

"So," Logan said as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"So," she said as she looked at him.

"This is really it?" he asked.

Rory smiled sadly "I…I think it has to be Logan. It was fun for a while, it was really fun, but things have changed and I think we both knew that it would have to end at some point."

Logan took her hand in his "It doesn't have to end"

"Yes it does," Rory said. "I'm sorry Logan, I just can't do this anymore."

"Rory, don't do this, don't walk away now" Logan begged.

"Why not Logan? Give me one good reason why not" she said as she looked at him.

"Because, God Rory, I love you," he said as he pushed his hands through his hair exasperatedly. "I've always loved you."

Rory looked at him, her eyes filling with tears. "I have to go," she said as she picked up her bag. "I'll send these back to you," she said as she rushed out of the café.

Logan sat down at the table. That was it. She was gone. He had told her he loved her and she still didn't want him. There was nothing else for him to do but to head home, to London. Logan would have moved heaven and earth to be with her if she could have only just said the words. All he wanted was to hear her say that she loved him too but he now knew that was never going to happen.

* * *

A/N: Dropping another chapter as casual as Taylor Swift dropping a new album... PS This isn't even the angst yet!


	14. Chapter Fourteen

As she left the café, Rory felt so utterly lost. Her head was reeling, she felt so confused about everything. Logan had told her he loved her and she had walked away from him, not even acknowledging what he had said to her, but her head was a mess, she needed to get away from him – she couldn't think straight when she was around him.

Rory got back into her car and started driving. Before she really realized where she was heading she found herself sitting outside her mom's house in Stars Hollow. She sat in the car for a moment gathering her thoughts before she got out and walked up the front steps. She opened the door and called out.

"Mom?" she shouted, looking for any signs of life in the house.

"Rory?" Lorelai replied, sounding a little surprised.

"Where are you?" Rory said as she walked in.

"I'm in the kitchen. What are you doing here?" Lorelai said as she looked up at her tear-stained daughter. "Rory, what's going on? What's the matter?"

Rory looked at Lorelai and threw the brown envelope down on the table in front of her.

"Argh, what's that" Lorelai looked at the envelope as if it was a snake that would bite her at any moment. "Are you serving me papers for something?" she joked nervously.

"That is the papers for my annulment," Rory said as she sat down at the table.

Lorelai looked at her wide-eyed "Come again? Your what now?"

"Annulment papers" Rory repeated.

"I heard that but I'm struggling how you can have annulment papers without…oh Rory, what have you done!" Lorelai said suddenly catching on.

Rory sank her hands into her head as she started to explain the whole sorry story to her mother. She started at the beginning, right from how Logan and her had first reconnected, to their Vegas agreement and many secret liaisons, to finding out he had a girlfriend and finally she told her all about their Vegas trip, their drunken marriage and discovering he was meant to be engaged to Odette, at Friday night dinner.

"Wow, that is a lot to take in kid," Lorelai said, "So you've been seeing him on and off for what, over a year?"

Rory nodded. "But it's over now. I've ended it."

"Oh, hun," Lorelai said as she rubbed her daughter's shoulder "Maybe it's for the best…I mean it sounds like a bit of a tangled mess…"

"That's not the whole story…" Rory said as she bit her lip nervously.

"No?" Lorelai looked at her daughter, wondering what else was going to be thrown into the mix.

"I'm pregnant," said quietly.

Lorelai looked at her open-mouthed. "What?! And it's Logan's?"

"Yes, it's Logan's," Rory said feeling annoyed at her mom for asking the question.

"Are you sure it's his?" Lorelai asked gently.

"God Mom! Yes, I am sure!" she shook her head.

Lorelai put her hands up in defence "I'm just asking, I mean I know you've been seeing other people…it's not outside the realms of possibility."

"There's been nobody else in that timeframe," Rory said pointedly. "Plus…"

"Right," Lorelai said as she internally rolled her eyes. Seemingly, it didn't matter how much she had nagged her daughter about safe sex, she was going to throw caution to the wind anyway. "Have you told him?"

Rory shook her head. "I only found out the other day, right after I told him that we needed to end things. I guess I could have told him today but…" she shook her head. "It was hard enough as it was," she said as she welled up.

"Oh, Rory" Lorelai put her arm around her daughter.

"He told me he loved me" she cried "and I just walked away from him," she said as she put her head on her mom's shoulder and sobbed.

* * *

Rory had cried on her mom for a good half an hour or more before she finally fell asleep on the sofa. Lorelai had covered her up with a blanket and left her while she went off to work at the Dragonfly for a few hours, giving strict instructions to Luke and Theo to leave her alone and be quiet. When Lorelai had got home later that evening, Rory was still flat-out asleep and she only woke up the next morning when she heard her cell phone ringing next to her.

"Hello?" she said blearily as she stretched her legs out. The sofa had not been the best choice of place to sleep.

"Hey, it's Steph"

"Oh hi Steph," Rory said.

"So…Colin told me your happy news, congratulations Rory!" Steph said sarcastically.

"So much for client confidentiality!" Rory shook her head.

"I just knew something was going on between you two! This is crazy Ror! You do know he's engaged to Odette right…" Steph said carefully.

"Apparently he's not but that doesn't really matter, I guess. It's not exactly my proudest moment getting myself hitched to someone else's boyfriend. Although the crowning glory has got to be having sex at a party last week while she was downstairs waiting for him" Rory groaned at the memory.

"Yikes, awkward," Steph said. "So Colin said that you're getting it annulled?"

"Of course we are but…" Rory hesitated "There's something else that I really need to tell you…and if I do tell you this you have to take it to the grave. And I mean that."

"I promise," Steph said solemnly.

"A couple of days ago…I found out I am pregnant" Rory said quickly before she changed her mind about saying it out loud.

Steph gasped. "What? Wait! Is it…Logan's?"

"Yes," Rory said quietly.

"Definitely?" Steph asked.

Rory rolled her eyes "Yes!"

"Well, you know…" Steph shrugged.

"Jeez. Between you and my mom…, I've not slept with anyone else for a while, and Logan and I…well let's just say that we weren't exactly safe every time" Rory grimaced. She hated admitting that they had been so reckless, it's not like they were kids, they should have known better.

"Does Logan know?" Steph asked tentatively.

Rory paused "No, I only found out after I had ended things with him, and then when I saw him last, I just couldn't do it."

"But you're going to tell him?" Steph prompted.

Rory took a deep breath. "No, I'm not"

"but…" Steph paused.

"I'm not keeping the baby Steph," Rory said quietly.

She had thought long and hard over the past few days since discovering that she was pregnant. She'd been feeling a bit peaky recently and as she realized she hadn't had her period in a while, she had taken a test just to rule it out. Rory had never actually imagined she could be pregnant, it had come as somewhat of a surprise to her when the test had come up positive but she knew that it had to have happened when they were in Vegas.

Rory had felt a mix of emotions. Part of her felt overwhelmed by the fact she was carrying Logan's baby but another part of her felt that it was so unbelievably unfair to bring a child into this mess she had got herself in. She felt desperate and didn't know what to do or even who to turn to – all she knew was that she didn't feel strong enough to make any other decision. Rory felt the best thing to do was to deal with the mess she had created and leave Logan in blissful ignorance. What he didn't know couldn't hurt him right?

Steph felt sad for her friend. "Oh, Rory. Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Yes, and I really don't want anyone else to know, but I needed to tell someone and well, you know right….?" Rory said.

Steph answered sadly "Sure" She too had been on the receiving end of an unplanned pregnancy back in college, after a one-night stand, and had ultimately come to the same decision. "When…"

"I've got an appointment on Friday," Rory said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Steph asked.

"No, I'll be fine"

* * *

Steph put the phone down. She had only called her friend to tease her a bit about her drunken wedding so was more than a little bit stunned by Rory's revelation. She couldn't help but think that Rory was making a huge mistake. She paused for a moment before finally she picked up the phone and called Logan.

After seeing Rory at the café, Logan had flown back to London. He was still feeling slightly jetlagged and a severe lack of sleep wasn't helping matters. He reached over and answered his phone.

"Hello Steph," he said with a yawn.

"What are you doing Logan?" Steph demanded

"Right now?" he asked.

"Sure, right now. Don't play dumb with me blondie, you know exactly what I mean. Colin told me about Rory" Steph said.

"Steph…" Logan sighed. He'd be having words with Colin about his big mouth.

"No Logan! Don't you Steph me? This is absolute bullshit and you know. She loves you and you love her but yet you're willing to let each other walk away. Again!"

"You don't know anything about it," Logan said feeling slightly irritated. Nobody knew what was between him and Rory.

"I know you are going to marry that French slut and I know that you're both throwing your lives away!" she yelled down the phone. "And that's all I need to know!"

Logan was really taken aback by Steph's tone. She sounded so angry and upset with him. "Steph, I don't know what is going on but you need to calm down. I don't understand why are you getting so upset about this? This was Rory's choice."

"She's pregnant you idiot!" Steph bit her lip as she realized that she had just overstepped the mark in a major fashion and she had completely broken her friend's confidence. Rory would kill her. She would never forgive her but it was far too late to go back now, what was done was done.

"She's what?" Logan said quietly, trying to let the news sink in for a moment.

"Rory is pregnant Logan, and yes, it's yours. Oh god, she's going to slaughter me for telling you. She made me swear I wouldn't tell a soul" Steph grimaced.

"I'm sure she'll forgive you eventually," Logan said. "I mean I guess she would have had to tell me herself at some point…oh…unless…" he paused as he considered what she might be thinking about. Steph's silence spoke volumes to him. "Oh, I see," he said resting his head in his hands.

"She's going to hate me for telling you Logan but I can't just sit by and watch this happen. I don't think she is in the right frame of my mind to make such a monumental decision like this. Rory is going to regret this forever, I know she is" Steph said quietly.

Logan rubbed his face with his hand. "Should I call her…I mean when is this happening…." he asked.

"She goes in on Friday," Steph said sadly.

"In three days?! Maybe it's for the best…" Logan said quietly.

Steph gasped. "What?! Logan you don't believe that!"

"Steph, I told her I loved her. I asked her not to end it but she walked away from me. If Rory had wanted anything different than she would have said." Logan said matter of factly.

"I don't believe you, Logan, I don't believe that you don't care that she's pregnant with your child and she's going to have an abortion," Steph said angrily.

Logan felt annoyed at Steph's words. There was nothing he cared more about in this world than Rory but he felt like the matter was out of his hands. She'd made her choice to walk away from him and now she had made the choice to not have his baby.

"Of course I care" Logan hissed "but she's made up her mind right? And she's come to this decision without me. I am 4000 miles away - what the hell do you want me to do."

"How about you act like a fucking decent human being for once," Steph said as she slammed down the phone.

* * *

A/N: So, I'm just going to leave that there and run away now.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

By the time she got to Friday, it was fair to say that Rory was a nothing short of a complete mess. She had spent the past three days wallowing in her apartment, having called in sick to work, not ready or willing to face the world until this whole thing was all over.

Fortunately, she had some great people in her life and she hadn't been totally alone throughout this time. Steph had been extremely supportive, although she hadn't yet worked up the courage to tell Rory that Logan now knew that she was pregnant. She might have brought it up if Logan had at least called or something but as far as she knew he had made absolutely no attempt to get in touch with Rory and she herself hadn't spoken to him since she'd slammed the phone down on him. She had reached a new level of pissed with him and wasn't sure how she'd would ever be able to forgive him for turning his back on Rory when she needed him most. Steph figured that it was kinder to not let on that she had spoken to Logan. She figured that if she told Rory that he knew, it would be obvious that he didn't care and that was just going to hurt her friend even more so she kept quiet.

Because she was her best friend, Rory had felt the need to tell Lane all about what was going on in her life, knowing there would be no judgement, and Lane had made absolutely sure that she was able to spend some time at Rory's apartment, coming to sit with her when she was feeling really low. Rory knew that she would be eternally grateful for her friend's care and consideration, but ultimately she also knew that she was never going to be able to get through this without talking to her mom about it.

Rory had delayed talking to Lorelai for as long as possible but the time had come to be completely honest, and so that morning when she had woken up, she had called her mom and asked her to come to her apartment first thing so that she could talk to her. She hadn't yet opened up to her mom about the decision that she had made and she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to react to it. Lorelai had always been supportive for the most part but this was a big deal and she wasn't sure if her mom was going to be on her side.

When she had heard the desperation in her daughter's voice, Lorelai didn't hesitate to jump in her car and make the journey into Manhattan to see her. When she arrived at the apartment, Rory opened the door and let her in.

Lorelai felt her heart shatter into a million tiny pieces as she looked at the empty shell that was once her daughter. Rory looked completely broken, a shadow of her former self. She had none of the spark or joie de vivre that she usually possessed, and she looked thoroughly worn out.

This had what Lorelai had been afraid of all along. It wasn't that she didn't like Logan or that she thought that he was a bad person in any way, it was more the fact that when it came down to Logan, Rory had always fallen way too hard. She loved him far too deeply, whether she wanted to admit that to herself or not. Lorelai had known that this thing between Rory and Logan – whatever it had been - would blow up at some point, it had to, she just hadn't really expected it to be in such a spectacular fashion. Lorelai had prepared herself for the fact that at some point in the future she'd be picking up the pieces of her daughter's broken heart once again, but the last thing she had expected was to be dealing with a drunken marriage and an unexpected pregnancy – especially when Logan was by all accounts, in a relationship with someone else. But whatever Lorelai thought of what had gone on over the past year, she knew that now was definitely not the time for her to say 'I told you so'. Now was the time when she had to rally herself and really be there for her daughter in whatever way she needed her.

Lorelai put her bag down on the floor and watched as Rory curled herself back up on the sofa. She furrowed her brow as she took in the sad sight, before going over to sit next to her. "Rory, honey, talk to me…" she said as she stroked the hair out of her daughter's sad eyes.

Rory took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Mom, this is really hard for me to talk about. Please don't hate me…"

"Kid! This is me you're talking to. Why on earth would I hate you?" Lorelai said.

"Because I am just not as strong as you," Rory said quietly.

"Of course you are" Lorelai smiled. "We're Gilmores right?" she said nudging her daughter.

Rory shook her head and looked down at the floor. "Mom…I'm…I'm not keeping the baby," she said without looking up.

"What?!" Lorelai said, trying hard not to act too shocked. She knew that ultimately she would be supportive of any decision that Rory made but she couldn't hide her surprise that this was the one that she had come to.

Rory looked up at her mom, her eyes full of tears. "I just can't do it, mom. I've thought about, god knows I've thought about it, but I can't do this. I can't bring up his child on my own and pretend to be happy about everything. If it was anyone else but him it might be different but…"

Lorelai sighed. She decided that now was not the time to walk on eggshells, now was most definitely the time to talk straight to her daughter. "Rory, I know this is hard, believe me, but hun, I would have thought that the very fact that this baby is his, well, that would have made you want it. This isn't the result of a nameless one night stand, I mean, this is your Logan. You love Logan."

"I know, I really do love Logan and that's part of the reason why I can't do this. I can't be forever tied to him through this. I can't watch him be happy with someone else. How could I let another woman share my child? That's not the life I want." Rory snapped at her mom.

"Okay, you need to calm down a little Rory," Lorelai said as she placed her hand on her daughter's arm trying to soothe her. "Look, when are you planning on…you know…" she paused.

"I'm going in this morning but I just wanted you to know before…" Rory said.

"Today?! Oh, Rory are you absolutely sure that this is what you want to do? I mean, does Logan even know that you're pregnant? You might change your mind after talking to him…" Lorelai reasoned. "You don't even know how he feels about any of this, he told you he loved you didn't he? That means something."

Rory shook her head. "He doesn't need to know," she said resolutely.

Lorelai sighed and shrugged. She knew underneath everything, that her daughter was as stubborn as she was. "Fair enough, that's got to be your call kid. Well, I guess, if you've made your mind up, there's nothing more to be said. Do you want me to come with you today?"

"No" Rory shook her head. She had made the decision that she wanted to do this on her own.

"Well, let me at least come with you to the clinic and I'll leave you there okay?" Lorelai said as she leaned back on the sofa.

She felt terrible about the whole situation. Not necessarily the decision that Rory had made, but the fact that Logan was being kept in the dark about it all. Lorelai felt sure that he'd want to know what was going on but she also knew that if she interfered now, Rory would never forgive her.

* * *

A couple of hours later Lorelai and Rory walked up to the outside of the clinic and stood looking at the discrete entrance together. Lorelai desperately wanted to find some words of wisdom or comfort but nothing came and she found herself at a total loss for words.

"Okay. Well, I guess this is where I leave you. Call me if you need anything kid" Lorelai said. Rory nodded at her as she turned to walk away.

"Mom?" Rory called out with a shaky voice.

'Yeah?" Lorelai turned around and looked at her grown daughter, who in that moment looked so young and vulnerable.

"I'm really scared," Rory said as her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, kid" Lorelai wrapped her arms around her daughter. It didn't matter that she was now an adult woman entering her thirties, she would always be her baby girl and the desire to protect her from everything was still as strong as it had ever been. "Are you sure that you don't want me to come in with you? I don't mind..."

"I'm sure," Rory said brushing away her tears before she took a deep breath and walked through the doors of the clinic.

Lorelai watched her daughter disappear through the doors and sank onto a nearby bench. She had tried to keep her thoughts to herself and not push her on anything but she truly believed that Rory was making a huge mistake and one that she was going to massively regret one day.

Once inside the clinic, Rory stood in front of the reception counter in a bit of a daze.

"Name?" the lady behind the desk said without looking up.

"Lorelai Gilmore," Rory said nervously as she looked around the waiting room. There were people of all different ages sitting in the waiting area and she couldn't help but wonder what their stories were. How had they come to make the same decision that she had? Everybody had gone through something that had brought them to this moment.

"Okay, Lorelai, just take a seat over there and someone will be here to take you through in just a moment," the receptionist said.

Rory absentmindedly flicked through a well-thumbed magazine from the stack sitting on the table next to her but she found that she really couldn't concentrate on anything. She put her head back on the seat and closed her eyes as she sat in the waiting room. She couldn't believe that she was sitting there, in that position. If it hadn't been for the morning sickness she'd been experiencing, it would have felt like it was all happening to someone else. Never in a million years did she think she would find herself alone and pregnant, unable to find another way through it. Rory hated that she was so weak. She hated that she felt she had no other options and most of all, she hated that she hadn't felt able to open up to Logan and tell him what was going on.

After a few more minutes, a friendly looking nurse came out into the waiting room to lead her through. Rory tried to force a smile to cover how nervous she was feeling. She didn't want to give away the fact that on the inside she was screaming.

Once they got settled in one of the consulting rooms, she listened carefully as the nurse explained to her just exactly what the procedure would involve. It was hard for Rory to listen to but she nodded her head throughout to let the nurse know that she was taking it in. Soon it was time to get changed into one of the extremely unflattering hospital gowns and once she was ready, the nurse inserted a needle into her arm to administer the pre-medication.

"This is just a light sedative, it will make you feel a little calmer and less anxious as we go in, okay?" the nurse smiled gently as she pushed the drug into Rory's arm. "Okay honey, are you ready to go through?" she asked as she held open the door for her.

Rory bit her lip and nodded. "Yes, I'm ready," she said, as grabbed the back of her hospital gown to hold it closed tight and she followed the nurse out of the room.

* * *

"I'm really very sorry sir but it doesn't matter who you say you are, I am not able to let you go back there…" the lady on the reception counter said loudly to the man that was pacing in front of the reception counter.

"But that's my baby!" he shouted at her. "I have every right to go in there!"

"Sir, please! You are going to have to keep your voice down or I will have to call security to come in here," the lady said pointedly.

As she was slowly walking out of the clinical area and back towards the reception, Rory could hear raised voices and she wondered what was going on to cause such a commotion. She walked around the corner and all of a sudden she felt like the ground had disappeared from underneath her feet.

"Logan!" she gasped. For a moment, she couldn't believe that he was actually there, that it was actually him standing there and not some sort of crazy illusion. How did he even know where she would be? How did he know that this is what she was doing today? So many thoughts were whizzing through her head, she didn't know which one of them to process first.

He heard her voice calling out his name and he turned around to look at her. "Rory," he said, barely managing to get the word out.

Logan looked at Rory, with her hair all pulled back and no makeup whatsoever. She looked so tired and fragile and he just wanted to pick her up, take her home and look after her in whatever way he could. It hurt him to see her looking so lost and vulnerable and to know that he was the root cause of this.

"God, I'm too late aren't I," he said quietly as he pushed his hand through his hair. The pain was etched all over his face and Rory felt a crushing pain in her chest as his eyes met hers.

"What…what are you doing here Logan…." she managed to say, before she clasped her hand over her mouth and dissolved into tears, falling to the floor on her knees, her legs feeling so weak that they could no longer hold her up.

Logan rushed straight over to Rory and crouched down next to her on the floor. He put his arms around her and held her tightly to his chest. "I'm sorry, Rory, I'm sorry. I tried to get here sooner but…I was too late."

* * *

 **A/N: Managed to squeeze one more chapter in! I'll be back soon... Leave your comments and thoughts, I love to read them ❤️. Thank you as always x**


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Rory took a moment to try and compose herself. Walking out of the clinical area to find Logan waiting there had come as a bit of a shock, especially considering the fact that she had thought he was in England – and how on earth did he even know where she would be? She had too many thoughts whizzing through her head all at once and she was struggling to process anything. She took a deep breath as Logan helped her back up off the floor, keeping one hand firmly on her to support her.

"Are you okay?" Logan asked her with concern. He looked at her – she was pale and looked more tired than he'd ever seen her, and now she was in floods of tears. He wasn't really sure what to do or what to say, completely unsure of what he should be feeling in this moment.

She looked at him and nodded, not quite able to form the words that she wanted to say.

"I'm sorry Rory. For everything" Logan said.

After Steph had called Logan he had sat and stewed on the news for a few hours. It was a lot of to take in, finding out that Rory was pregnant. It came as quite a shock but then again, it wasn't altogether that surprising. They'd never been particularly careful, often getting carried away in the heat of the moment. It was a reckless game to play but that's what they brought out in each other – unrestrained impulsiveness - there had been more than one occasion of wild abandon.

He knew Steph was going to be mad at him for acting like he didn't care, but he did care. He cared a lot. Logan loved Rory and the thought that she was going to end her pregnancy without even telling him cut to the core. He completely understood her reasons for perhaps not wanting to bring his child into the world but he would have hoped that she knew deep down that she meant something to him and that he would be there to support her no matter what.

After a lot of deliberation and a night of sleeping on it, Logan had decided he had to go to her. He needed to see her and be there for her, whatever his personal feelings were on the matter and so he had gone to the airport to try and get a flight. He was so focused on getting there he had decided not to call her, knowing that she would inevitably try and stop him from coming. There was a huge part of Logan that had hoped he would get to New York in time to convince Rory that she didn't have to take this route, that he would be there for her but he'd had to wait for a flight and then travel delays on top of that had meant it had taken him longer than he had anticipated and although he had rushed as fast as he could, it had been too little too late.

Rory looked up at Logan through her tears and slowly shook her head at him. "You're not too late" she whispered so quietly it was barely audible.

"What?" Logan looked at her slightly stunned, his mouth open wide.

"I didn't do it," she said quietly as she looked down at the floor.

When Rory had walked through the door to the surgical room with the nurse, she had suddenly had a huge moment of clarity, it had hit her like a ton of bricks, and in that moment she realized that this wasn't what she wanted. Rory knew that there was a good chance that she may never be with Logan again in the future, that their time had completely passed, but she also knew that if she went through with the procedure – there was no going back and she never would be with him again. It would change everything. While Rory couldn't possibly envisage what was going to be in the future for either of them, she just didn't feel ready to close that door yet. Logan had told her he loved her and she knew that she loved him, even if it wasn't something that she hadn't admitted it to him yet. That had to count for something, and this new life that was growing inside her might have been the product of an unfortunate accident born out of what could only be described as an ill-thought-out reckless adventure but it was also created out of love.

"What!" he stood back from her trying to allow the news to sink in. "You mean…"

"I just couldn't do it, Logan. When it came down to it, I couldn't do it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that this is going to mess your life up…." Rory rambled not stopping to look at Logan. She was so worried about what his reaction might be.

"Are you serious right now? Rory! I don't care about any of that" Logan said as he gently pulled her face up to look at him. "Come on, we need to get out of here," he said as he put his arm around her and led her out of the door and onto the street outside.

Logan hailed a cab and took Rory straight back to her apartment. As they had sat in the back of the cab, she had laid her head on his shoulder and cried all the way home. She wasn't even sure why she was crying anymore but by the time they got back to her place, all the emotion had taken its toll on her and she was completely wiped out. Logan took one look at Rory and insisted that she go lie down in her bedroom to try to get some rest for a while, assuring her that he wasn't going anywhere and that he'd be there waiting for her when she woke up.

While Rory was in her bedroom, Logan sat on her sofa and tried to take in the situation that he now found himself in. It would be fair to say that he felt completely emotionally wrung out himself. After he had landed in New York, he'd checked his messages and had literally just received word from Colin that their application for an annulment had been refused and that they now had no option other than to get an actual divorce. It was not a desirable situation to find themselves in – at the very least it meant that there would no way of hiding what they had done. Logan knew that both their families were going to be nothing short of livid about it. That situation had been playing on his mind as he raced into the clinic and then when he had thought that he was too late to stop Rory aborting their child he had felt crushed. That was until he found out that she hadn't gone through with it. It had certainly been an emotional rollercoaster of a day, to say the least. Logan was feeling fairly exhausted himself. He dropped his head back and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Rory woke up a few hours later, it took her a few moments to digest what had gone down that morning. As she lay in her bed staring up at the ceiling, she thought about that morning when she had woken up, staring at the same spot on the ceiling. She had been preparing herself for a very different day. Rory rolled over and looked at the clock on the bedside table and figured she had better call her mom. She reached over to get her cell phone to find a couple of missed calls. Lorelai had been on tenterhooks all day waiting to hear from her daughter and so she answered the call on the first ring with no hesitation.

"Rory?"

"Hey mom," Rory said quietly.

"Hey kid, I was worried about you. I kind of expected to hear from you earlier. How are you?" Lorelai asked. She didn't really know what the right thing to say in this situation was.

"I'm…well, I'm okay." Rory paused for a moment before continuing. "Mom, I didn't go through with it," she said.

"You didn't?" Lorelai felt a wave of something rush over her. She wasn't sure what it was but it verged on relief. She'd always believed Rory was making a mistake. "What changed your mind hun? I mean, I am really glad that you did change your mind but you were so set on it…" Lorelai asked carefully.

Rory inhaled sharply before she spoke. "I had time to think about what you said, and it all kind of started to make sense. You were right, this is Logan. I was just frightened that I wouldn't be able to do this on my own, but when it came down to it, I couldn't go through with it. And here's the craziest part of it…as I was walking out, Logan arrived at the clinic."

Lorelai was stunned. She hadn't seen that part coming. "Logan was there! Wow! How did he even know?"

"Well, it turns out that Steph has a really big mouth" Rory rolled her eyes.

"Hallelujah. God bless Steph!" Lorelai joked.

"Anyhow, he's here with me now and I still don't really know what's going to happen as we've not talked yet, but I think it was the right decision…" Rory paused as she felt herself having a little wobble again.

Lorelai picked up on the hesitation in her daughter's voice. "Rory? What's the matter?"

Rory bit her lip. "Mom, I saw his face when he thought he was too late when he thought that I had…" she paused "…and it was horrible," she said as she started crying again. "I don't ever want to see that look again."

"Oh, hun. But listen, he wasn't too late, it's all good! I mean, the boy just flew four thousand miles to get to you, you'll work something out. Now just try and relax as much as you can. You're going to have a lot to talk about I should imagine" Lorelai said.

"Thanks, mom. I had better go out there. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay, you do that. Take care kid" Lorelai smiled.

Rory ended the call to Lorelai and opened up her messages to send a quick message to Steph.

"Steph, I know you that you told Logan. He's here now. I want you to know that I'm not mad at you x"

Steph heard her phone beep next to her. She picked it up to read the message and smiled a little when she saw that it was from Rory. Logan had gone to her after all. She kind of felt bad for having had so little faith in him. Of course he cared about Rory, of course, he was going to want to be there for her.

"I'm so sorry Rory, I shouldn't have interfered, it was none of my business" she typed back. While she felt some comfort that Logan had done the decent thing and flown to New York to be at Rory's side, Steph felt gutted that she had blurted out the news to Logan and that he had probably arrived far too late to make a difference. She kicked herself for not trying harder with him.

"You did the right thing Steph, I should have told him myself, by the way, I'm still pregnant. Call you tomorrow x"

Steph's heart skipped a beat as she read Rory's message. It was just the best news. She really hoped that Logan and Rory could now sort out whatever it was that was stopping them from being together. Steph suddenly felt a lot better about interfering and yelling at Logan.

Rory placed her cell phone back on the bedside table. She knew that she should probably be angry at her friend for betraying her trust but she didn't feel that at all. Steph was only looking out for her and Rory suddenly felt very lucky that she had such great people in her life - one of those great people was currently waiting to talk with her outside her bedroom. She was nervous about how the conversation was going to go, she had no idea what Logan was thinking. Rory took a deep breath and stood up to look at her reflection in the mirror. She closed her eyes.

"In omnia paratus," she said quietly to herself before she opened the bedroom door and took a step towards the future, whatever it was going to look like.

* * *

 **A/N: Guess who's back, back again...yes I'm back, tell a friend...guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back,guess who's back...na na na! Have you missed me? I've missed writing!**


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Rory walked out to the living area of her apartment where Logan was waiting for her on the sofa. He looked up at her as she opened the door and came out wearing her Yale sweats with her hair tied back in a messy bun, tears staining her face and nibbling on her nails. She looked nervous and he hated the thought that she would feel uncomfortable around him.

"Hey," she said quietly as she sat next to him on the edge of the sofa. "Have you been asleep?"

"A little" he yawned "All that air travel kind of takes it out of you. How are you feeling?" Logan asked with concern in his voice as he looked at her.

"Fine. I'm fine. I'm sorry about earlier…all the crying…" Rory said slightly embarrassed.

"It's okay" Logan smiled.

Rory smiled back nervously. "Thanks for staying. I guess that we should probably talk?' she said a bit awkwardly. She didn't really know where to start with all this or even what she wanted the outcome to be.

"Yeah…" Logan nodded.

"Firstly, I'm really sorry for not telling you Logan, I guessed that you heard it from Steph?" she asked.

Logan nodded. "But don't be mad at her, she meant well," he said "Although maybe be a little mad at her, because she really yelled at me" he smiled.

Rory laughed a little. "That sounds like Steph. I'm not mad at her, not really. I just didn't want to mess anything up for you. I thought that I could just deal with all of this on my own, and move on and nobody would have to get hurt but I couldn't do it" she paused. "Logan, if you knew…why didn't you call me?"

"Honestly? I'm not going to lie, I went into a bit of a tailspin when Steph told me you were pregnant. It took a little while for the news to properly sink in and at first…" Logan stopped and looked at Rory. He wasn't sure how honest to be. Rory looked at him encouragingly and he continued. "…at first I was angry with you."

"Angry with me?" Rory asked, slightly surprised.

"Yeah, I was angry that you hadn't told me, angry that you could make that decision without me, angry that you gave me no option to try and support you through this…but I slept on it and after that, all I could focus on was getting here. I figured if I had called you, you would have told me not to come."

"You are probably right," Rory said.

"And I wasn't giving you that chance" Logan shrugged. "I needed to come to New York and see you."

Rory twiddled her fingers.

"Thanks, Logan. It means a lot that you wanted to be here…I mean…whatever happened."

"Of course. You didn't do this on your own Ace" he joked.

Rory sighed. "I'm just so sorry Logan. I mean, this really isn't how things were meant to be turn out for either of us. It was just meant to be a bit fun and now somehow, we've managed to end up married with a baby on the way."

They both laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation before Logan turned slightly more serious.

"Yeah, about that…" Logan said as he rubbed his face with his hand. Now seemed as good as time as any to tell Rory about Colin's message earlier that day.

"About what?" Rory looked at Logan quizzically.

"That whole marriage thing. Colin called me this morning and he left a message on my cell. It turns out, that the annulment we hoped for, well it is a no-go…"

Rory raised an eyebrow at him. "What does that mean?"

"It's got to be an actual divorce I'm afraid" he grimaced.

"Wow. That's certainly going to take some explaining!" Rory said open-mouthed.

"Yeah…but hey, I kind of think that it's probably going to be the least of our concerns right now" he smiled. "Well, apart from having to start the building work on the nuclear bunker that I am going to need to build so I can hide in it once my father finds out I got married without a pre-nup in place. You know, you could potentially be a very rich woman Ace" he laughed.

"God, we've made such a mess haven't we?" Rory half-laughed as she buried her head in her hands. She suddenly turned more serious and looked up at Logan. "I want you to know though, I don't want anything from you. I mean, you can be as involved as you want but if you can't be because of…whatever…then I completely understand…I'm not expecting anything at all" she rambled.

Logan nodded as he grabbed hold of her hand. "Okay, but you do know that I am not going to be going anywhere right?" he said as he kissed her softly on the head. "I haven't flown halfway across the world to not be involved. We'll do this together." Logan moved his kisses to her lips and he pressed softly against them.

"But what about Odette…" she said as she pulled away from him. "You have a girlfriend - one I imagine isn't going to be over the moon to find out that the 'other woman' she knew nothing about is now pregnant with your child and you're planning to co-parent?"

"Ace…I'll deal with it" he promised as he kissed her lips softly again. "This is just about you and me now, okay?" he said as he entwined his fingers with hers. "And believe me, you were never the other woman, you're the only one I've ever really wanted."

"Okay," Rory said as she looked into his eyes. Everything was still so up in the air right now but she needed to believe that everything Logan said was true. She had no reason to doubt that he wouldn't be as good as his word. They'd had many ups and downs in the past but one thing was for sure – when push had come to shove and the chips were down, Logan had always been there for her.

"Logan?" Rory looked across at him.

"Yeah?" he said.

Rory put her hands gently on either side of his face and brought him back closer to her. "I just want you to know… I love you so much" she said before she pulled him into a soft kiss that soon deepened into something a lot more passionate as she parted her lips slightly granting him access to explore her mouth with his tongue.

After a moment or two, Logan pulled away from the kiss and smiled at her. It was music to his ears. "I love you too Ace, you know I do."

Rory smiled happily at him. "Yeah, I do know that."

Logan looked at her carefully. "So what does this exactly mean for us...are we going to do this? We're going to make it happen?" he asked. He was conscious that he didn't really want to push her right now, but on the other hand, there was a big part of him that really needed to know where they were headed.

Rory nodded at him. "I guess so" she smiled "I mean, I don't exactly know how logistically we're are going to make it work but all I know is that…I want to be with you more than anything and well, we'll just have to find a way."

Logan smiled at her "You don't know how good it is to hear you say that" he said as he pulled her into his arms.

* * *

Later that evening they climbed into Rory's bed together and quickly fell asleep. Logan hadn't had time in all his transatlantic rushing around to book into a hotel but even if he had, there was no way Rory was going to let him out of her sight now that she had him there. She woke early the next morning, having slept better that night than she had done in months. The reasons for this were twofold – firstly there was the fact she was sleeping in the arms of the man she loved and for the first time years it felt different. They had both admitted their true feelings for each other and it felt good but she'd also gone to bed knowing that a whole heap of her problems and anxieties had been to put to rest. Of course, Rory knew that there were many more things that they would need to sort out in time. She wasn't as naive to think that everything was going to be perfect and plain-sailing, there were definitely areas to work on but for now, this was enough.

As she lay in bed with a sleeping Logan draped over her she felt that familiar hot and sweaty feeling starting to creeping through her body. Rory quickly flung Logan's arm off her and ran to the bathroom as quick as she could, the morning sickness getting the better of her once again. With the sudden jolt, Logan woke up immediately and hearing Rory retching loudly, he jumped up and followed her into the bathroom. He sat behind her, holding her hair out of the way and gently rubbing her back as she was hunched over.

"How bad has it been Ace?" he asked. Logan felt awful seeing her hanging over the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach.

"Pretty bad" she admitted as she sat down on the floor, leaned against the tub and wiped her mouth with a cloth. "I'm sure I look great right now" she rolled her eyes. She hated Logan seeing her like this.

"You're always beautiful Ace" Logan smiled.

"Ugh, I don't feel it," she said as she ran her hands through her hair. "Morning sickness is just the worst" she groaned. She'd been experiencing violent sickness in the mornings for a few weeks now but luckily after the initial episode each day, she managed to carry on the rest of the day as usual.

"Why don't you have a shower and I'll go sort out some breakfast for us?" he said. "You can eat right?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay in a minute. That would be great" she smiled.

While Rory showered and freshened herself up, Logan popped out to a nearby bakery to pick up some pastries and coffee. By the time he got back Rory was looking altogether a lot brighter and perkier, and much more like the woman he knew and loved. They talked as they sat and ate breakfast at the table in her kitchen.

"So, what do we do now?" Logan asked. "I have no idea what is supposed to happen next" he smiled.

"About what?" Rory said as she munched on her pastry.

"About Government accountability and transparency…" Logan joked. "The baby Ace!"

"Oh sorry!" she giggled "Well I guess we probably need to see a doctor?" Rory shrugged.

"Sure. Do you even know how far along you are? I'm presuming this was a Vegas thing but…" Logan trailed off.

"Yeah Vegas, so, maybe around eleven weeks or thereabouts?" she said as she subconsciously rubbed her tummy. It was still perfectly flat but she knew that it probably wouldn't be that way for long.

"Wow. It won't be long until you'll be showing then" he said with a smile.

Rory looked down at her tummy. "I guess not" she wrinkled her nose. It was hard to imagine what she was going to look like with a baby bump. "When are you going back to London?" she asked tentatively. She wondered if he'd actually be around to come to the see the doctor with her or not.

Logan shrugged "I don't know…I didn't actually tell anyone where I was going. But hey, just make the appointment and I'll be there, whatever happens" he said.

"Okay…but…" Rory paused. There was still so much up in the air and she wondered if now was the right time to approach it or not.

"…but?" Logan encouraged her to carry on with whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Well, it's just that this is all really complicated, right? You live in London, I live in New York…" she trailed off. "I'm just struggling to see how we're going to do this" Rory said honestly.

Logan sighed. The same thoughts had been going through his head. "I know, and honestly? I don't have the answers to everything yet, but the main thing is we're on the same page and we'll work everything out together okay?'

"Okay," Rory said with some uncertainty. She knew she had to keep the faith.

"Hey," Logan said as he reached out and pulled her over to him "We WILL work it out, I promise. I don't want you to worry about any of this. You are my number one priority. Well, you and our baby " he smiled. "You might have to share that number one slot from now on Ace."

Rory laughed "Damn, I've only just made it into the number one position and I'm already being jostled out" she joked.

"Aww you know you've always been my number one Ace," Logan said as kissed her.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for the lovely welcome back! I've missed writing. I also wanted to say, for those of you in the affected areas of Texas right now - here in the UK we are thinking of you x**


	18. Chapter Eighteen

_beep beep beep beep_

Logan slowly reached one arm out of bed and hit the alarm clock until it stopped making a noise. Opening one eye, he rolled over on to his side to look at the time that was showing on the display.

"Urgh, it's only 6 am, this is way too early Ace" Logan groaned as he rolled back onto his front.

Rory climbed out of bed and stretched her arms upwards, yawning to try and wake herself up a little more.

"Why are you up so early?" he said as he closed his eyes again.

"Because…I thought I'd get back to work today" Rory said as she rubbed her hand gently across her tummy. Today was the first day in a while that she hadn't had to rush straight to the bathroom. She was really hoping that most of the sickness had passed now.

"Hey, that's great!" Logan said as he sat up in bed. "I think that will do you the world of good."

Rory had taken another day off work after Logan had arrived; there had been so much they had needed to talk about but she felt like she was almost back to her usual self now and there was no real reason for her to stay away from the office any longer. She was actually looking forward to getting back to work and resuming a normal life.

"Yeah, I've kind of missed it this week so it will be great to get back," Rory said as she picked out an outfit and started to get herself dressed and ready for work. "What are your plans today?" she said as she turned to look at Logan.

"I think I am just going to hang here for a bit if that's okay with you, sort some emails, that kind of thing," he said.

Logan had called the office to let them know that he was going to be taking some personal time off but that didn't mean the work would stop. There would undoubtedly be a million and one things that he would have to deal with; such was the nature of his job. He didn't hate it though – Logan actually enjoyed the work he did with HPG now. The night before, he had also faced up to the things that needed to be dealt with and he had made the difficult call to Odette to let her know that it was over between them. It really wasn't the way he had wanted to do it, she was actually a nice girl and there was no doubt that she probably deserved far better than being broken up with over the telephone but it was something that needed to be done if he was going to be able to move forward with Rory, and it felt an immense relief to him that it was now all dealt with and there was one less obstacle in their path.

"Okay, well don't forget I've booked the doctors appointment for later today. I'm planning to leave work early but it's probably best if I just meet you there?" she said handing him a piece of paper with the address on.

"Sure," he said as he put the paper down on the bedside table. "It's pretty exciting don't you think Ace?" he smiled.

Rory smiled back a little. "Yeah, it is. Right, I'm going to head off now. I'll see you later" she said as she leaned down to kiss him goodbye.

* * *

After Rory left the apartment, Logan tried his hardest to get back to sleep but it wasn't really happening so after a fair amount of tossing and turning he decided to just admit defeat and check in on work. He went and got himself a coffee before he pulled out his laptop to check his email and turned on his cell phone to listen to his messages, of which they were many, as he could have predicted. Logan buried himself in his work for a few hours until he was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He picked it up to see who was calling and groaned when he saw that it was his father's name show up on the caller ID. Logan knew that this wasn't going to be a good phone call.

"Dad" Logan said as he answered the call.

"Ah Logan, it's good to know that my prodigal son is still alive and kicking. Where the hell are you?" Mitchum said.

"I'm in New York right now, I told the office…" Logan said.

"Ah, I see. And does this sudden trip to the Big Apple happen to have something to do with the illustrious Rory Gilmore by any chance?" Mitchum asked.

Logan sighed. He wasn't entirely sure what his father knew about him and Rory. "Dad, can we just cut to the case. What do you want?"

"So, you might be able to imagine my surprise when I was talking to Andrew McCrea yesterday…it really was quite something to hear that his firm was currently handling my son's divorce. And if that wasn't enough, Andrew was very quick to reassure me that I was not to worry as they were quite confident that they "could deal with the no pre-nup situation without it getting too messy…" Mitchum scoffed.

Logan closed his eyes. He hadn't quite anticipated that his father would be calling about that and he wasn't really sure what he was going to be able to say to defend it. "Dad…look…"

"Divorce Logan? Did I miss something? A wedding announcement in the New York Times? Was the invitation lost in the mail perhaps? I think you had better start explaining Logan and you had better do it fast." Mitchum said.

Logan took a deep breath. "Okay, you're not going to like this but…Rory and I….we went to Vegas with some of the guys and when we were there we kind of got married. We were drunk, it was a bet and it seemed funny at the time…" he said. He knew his dad would not understand.

Mitchum scoffed. "We'll talk about funny later. What I want to know is how does Rory even figure in any of this? I thought that thing with her was long over, like years ago."

"It was. Look I really don't want to get into the specifics of that. Just let me sort it out, everything is under control, Colin is handling it, he said it would be pretty straightforward" Logan reasoned.

"Ha, apart from the small fact that you ran off and got married without a damn pre-nuptial agreement in place. We've talked about this so many times. Logan where is your brain? Do you know how much money is at stake?" Mitchum said with a raised voice.

"Jeez, that's all you care about, isn't it? Dad, Rory doesn't want your money. It's just a simple amicable divorce, there's going to be no wrangling involved. Your precious millions are completely safe." Logan shook his head.

"Hmm. So you and Rory, I take it as you're getting divorced, you're not together then?" Mitchum asked.

"I never said that," Logan said matter of factly.

"Logan stop playing games with me." Mitchum was growing tired of the conversation.

"Yes, Dad, if you must know, Rory and I ARE together now. In fact, I'm in her apartment right now and in approximately two hours I will be accompanying her to a doctors appointment because she's pregnant which is the reason I am here in New York" Logan ranted at his father "Congratulations dad, you're going to be a grandpa again!" he said sarcastically before he ended the call.

* * *

"Sorry I am late" a flustered Logan came rushing into the doctor's waiting room to find Rory flicking through an old magazine while she waited for him.

"Hey, it's fine don't worry, they seem to be running a bit behind anyway," Rory said as he sat down next to her. She looked at him "You look funny. What's the matter?"

"Ugh, nothing. Well, it's not exactly nothing but there's no real need to go into it all now, let me just say two words to you – Mitchum Huntzberger" Logan sighed.

"Ouch" Rory grimaced "Does he know about…"

"He does now" Logan rubbed his head with his hand. "Look, let's forget about him for now, I don't want today to be about my father." As he regained his breath after his mad dash across the city, Logan looked at Rory properly for the first time. "Hey, are you okay…you look a bit pale. Are you nervous?"

Rory looked down at her lap. "A little" she admitted. Ever since she had got out of bed that day it had felt like nervous energy had been coursing through her veins. At first, she had thought it was excitement but she quickly realized that what she was really feeling was fear.

"Can I ask why?" Logan said as he gently rested his hand on her thigh.

She wrinkled her nose. "I know that it's irrational and you'll think that I am crazy it's just…well, I'm worried that something is going to be wrong, when we go in there" she gestured towards the doctor's room with her head.

"Why would you think that?" Logan asked.

"Because of this time last week…you know." Rory paused "I just don't feel like I deserve to be here that's all," she said honestly.

"Hey," Logan said as he put his arm around her "You need to forget about all of that, we're moving forward, yes? Everything will be fine."

Rory nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just being silly."

"Rory Gilmore?" the doctor came out of the room and called for them.

Logan grabbed Rory's hand "That's us," he said with a smile.

They followed the doctor into the consulting room and Rory lay down on the bed as instructed, ready for the doctor to apply the gel to her tummy for the sonogram. She flinched a little as he smeared the cold gel onto her and then started to run the doppler over her. After a few nerve-wracking moments of silence, he finally turned the screen to face them.

"There's your baby," he said with a smile "If you look there you can just see the heart beating away" he pointed at the screen. "Can you see it?"

Rory nodded her head as she was struggling to form any actual coherent words. She could see the perfect little shape of their baby on the screen in front of her and it was incredible to see.

Logan squeezed her hand and leaned across to talk to her quietly. "Are you okay?" he whispered into her ear.

She turned her head to look at him, her eyes full of tears. "That's ours" she whispered back.

"I know" Logan smiled "It's pretty cool huh? We made that!"

"It's amazing," Rory said as she turned back to look at the screen again.

"Okay, Rory," the doctor said "You're measuring around twelve weeks and I'm happy to say that your baby looks perfectly healthy, everything is on track and that's a good strong heartbeat there" he smiled. "We'll see you in a couple of months time unless you have any issues before then. Any concerns of problems just give us a call, okay?"

"Thanks, doctor. See! Everything is fine Ace" Logan said to Rory as he kissed the hand that he had been holding tightly.

Rory cleaned herself up and they picked up their scan pictures on the way out of the doctor's room, before walking out into the street hand-in-hand to make their way back to Rory's apartment. On the way back they decided to stop off for a quick bite to eat and as they chowed down on their noodles they sat and looked at the picture of their tiny baby.

"Can you believe we're actually going to be parents?" Logan said.

"Poor kid" Rory smiled "We have no idea what we are doing. What if we totally screw it up?"

"Well Ace, I think that's probably just the risk that you have to take and look, if we do screw it up, then there's always therapy" he smirked.

"Nice" Rory laughed. "Consigning our unborn child to a lifetime of therapy before they've even made their grand entrance into the world."

"Don't worry, Baby Huntzberger will be just fine."

Rory looked at Logan with one eyebrow raised as she took a sip of water. "Baby Huntzberger?"

He looked back at her in mock surprise. "Why, yes, of course!"

"Interesting. What about Gilmore?" she asked as she put down her glass.

Logan smiled at her. "Well, daddy is a Huntzberger, and technically mommy is a Huntzberger so…"

"Ha, nice try buster!" she laughed as Logan pulled her towards him and kissed her.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Later that night, Rory lay in her bed alongside Logan, thinking about the day. It had been really something quite special to see their baby for the first time and she would be forever grateful that Logan had been able to be there with her to share in that moment. A few weeks ago it was more than she could dare dream. Rory placed her hand softly on her tummy as she turned to look at him.

"Do you know what?" she said, "I still can't actually believe that there is actually a baby in there."

"Well there definitely is Ace," Logan said as he leaned down and kissed her tummy gently before tracing his fingers carefully over the tiny bump that was just starting to develop. "You're starting to show" he smiled.

Rory looked down. Over the past few days, she had definitely noticed that her tummy was starting to become a little rounder. She wondered what it was going to look like in a few months time.

"I really ought to get around to telling everyone else now, before grandma accuses me of eating too much pie" she joked. "I'm not looking forward to that conversation though. I've been wondering what version of the story to give her!" Rory grimaced.

"Sorry I can't come with you to do that, I wish I could be there for you," Logan said as he lay back down on the pillow. He didn't relish the thought of leaving Rory on her own to face the difficult conversations about how they had come to be where they were.

"It's okay. I'm a big girl" she smiled "Plus, I have mom on my side, so that helps."

Rory knew that Lorelai hadn't always approved of her decisions. She knew her mom certainly hadn't loved the whole 'Vegas' thing they had going on or the fact that Logan and Rory had drunkenly got married but ultimately she knew that Lorelai would support her no matter what and Rory felt a lot stronger knowing that her mom had her back.

"I can't believe that I have to go back to London tomorrow, I'm going to miss this" Logan said as he placed his hand gently down on her tummy "and I'm really going to miss you."

"I know. I'll really miss you too." Rory said a little sadly. She had been trying to push all thoughts about Logan's departure out of her mind. "But hey you're here with me right now so why don't you get over here and kiss me already" she winked.

"God, my wife is so demanding" he joked as he moved over the bed towards her "and she's absolutely beautiful so why on earth would I resist," he said with a smile.

Rory felt a blush creep up her body as Logan looked at her admiringly. She had never found accepting compliments easy and was still amazed after all these years that Logan still wanted her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her as she tilted her head up to him and whispered softly and simply.

"I love you," she said before she pressed her lips to his.

As Logan's tongue grazed her lips, she parted them slightly and the kiss intensified. What had started out as a soft, gentle kiss soon became something more. Logan pulled away from the kiss and looked into her sparkling blue eyes.

"I love you too," he said.

Rory closed her eyes and leaned her head back as Logan moved downwards to kiss the sensitive spot on her neck, sending shivers up and down her spine. He slowly pulled down the straps of her bra. Logan wasn't in any rush, he just wanted to completely savor the moment, not knowing when he'd be able to do this again. He slid his hands around to unfasten the bra and discarded it onto the floor.

Logan kissed his way down Rory's body, stopping as he reached her breasts. He didn't hesitate to take one in his mouth, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from Rory as he teased her nipples with his tongue. His hand trailed further down her body and toyed with the waistband of her panties. She shifted a little to allow him to remove them as he continued gently lavishing attention on her breasts. Logan slowly moved his hand down between her legs and he slipped his fingers up and down, spreading the wetness that was forming there. Rory squirmed underneath him and ran her fingers through his hair as he continued to make his way down her body before finally settling between her legs where he kissed his way slowly up the inside of one thigh and then switched his attention to the other.

He moved her legs wider apart then began to kiss and lick her gently. Rory gave a little moan as Logan lightly made slow circles, again and again, the pressure becoming a little harder each time. Rory groaned and took his head in her hands. He stroked her with a few more long licks and she pressed herself against him as he used small flicks of his tongue to tease her before he slipped two fingers inside of her. Logan could tell she was getting close as she clenched his fingers. He continued to use his tongue to tease her as he thrust his fingers in and out, listening to her breathing becoming faster.

Rory arched her back "Oh God, I'm going to come" she panted and with a shudder and a moan she finally let go.

"Mission accomplished" Logan smiled as he moved back up her body and she relaxed into the bed.

There was no way it was over yet, he was incredibly turned on and just listening to Rory's moans of pleasure had almost tipped him over the edge. Logan leaned down and gave Rory one of the softest but most sensual kisses that she'd ever experienced.

"I really need you Logan" Rory moaned softly into his mouth, her desire for him overwhelming her.

"As you wish," Logan said as he shifted himself and teased against her opening for a moment.

Rory wrapped her legs around his hips as he slowly pushed inside of her. He leaned down towards her until their lips met and they shared another passionate kiss, full of love. With their arms wrapped around each other, they continued to kiss deeply while Logan thrust slowly into her. Rory closed her eyes, wanting to remember every detail of Logan making love to her at this moment; she needed something to cling onto while he was away in London. He kissed and sucked gently on her neck and she gasped and wrapped her legs around him tighter, lifting her hips up to meet his rhythm, their bodies becoming one. Rory reached up with her hands to cup his face and he lowered his eyes to meet hers. He smiled at her and she pulled him towards her to kiss him. She could feel a second orgasm building up inside of her, so intensely she felt like she would explode at any moment. Instinct started to take over and the thrusts became harder and faster. Rory, moved her hands to Logan's ass, digging her nails in and pulling him as close to her as she possibly could as they both frantically thrust against each other.

She let out loud moan as her orgasm swept over her body and Logan took this as his cue to let go, his body tensing as he came inside her hard. After a few moments, he slipped off her and curled up behind her, pulling her close with one arm while his leg was draped over her. As the night crept on, Logan continued to hold her until their bodies relaxed and they finally fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning Logan woke up, his legs and arms still entwined with a sleeping Rory. He gently nuzzled the back of her head, as he breathed her in and kissed her neck. The softness and scent of her skin was intoxicating. He was really going to miss this and he knew that the next few months had the potential to be quite hard on both of them. Rory started to wake and she moaned softly at his touch. As much as Logan would have liked a repeat performance of the previous night, he knew that he had to get up as he had a flight to catch. He gave her a gentle kiss on the head before he begrudgingly slipped quietly out of bed, not wanting to disturb her too much.

It didn't matter how quiet or careful he being was though, as Rory soon missed Logan's warm presence in the bed next to her. She rolled over onto her side and opened her eyes to look up at him as he started to get dressed.

"Morning" she yawned as she watched him put on his clothes.

"Good morning Ace" Logan looked over at her and smiled. He didn't know how she did it but even when she had just woken up and her hair was all in a tangle, Rory was still absolutely stunning and the most beautiful woman he'd ever had the good fortune to have in his arms.

"Why are you sneaking out of bed?" she said lifting herself up on one arm as she watched him move around her bedroom.

"I've got to leave for the airport in an hour, " he said as he pulled his sweater over his head.

"Ugh," Rory said as she flopped back onto the mattress.

The few days that had been able to spend together in New York had gone by far too quickly. Sure, they'd had the chance to talk about a lot of stuff but there were still so many things unresolved. She really didn't want him to go but she understood that's where his life was.

Logan sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "It won't be for too long, hopefully, I can make a trip back out here in a couple of weeks," he said as he brushed her hair out of her face.

Rory pulled him down to her and kissed him. "Can't we just stay here, in bed forever" she pouted.

"You know that there's nothing more I'd love than to spend the rest of my life rolling around in bed with you… but you know Ace…we have jobs and you'd definitely need feeding once in a while. Plus after last night, I really think these bed sheets are going to need to go into the wash immediately" he winked.

"You're right" Rory wrinkled her nose and smiled as last night's activities came back to her. It had been a good night. They were both aware that it could be the last time together for a while so had made it count.

"Okay," she said firmly as if she was trying to convince herself that she was ready to face the day. "I'm getting up…" she said as she sat up and flung her feet out of bed.

"Why? Stay in bed" Logan urged.

"Oh no mister, I'm driving you to the airport," she said.

Logan shook his head. "You don't have to do that, I'll get a car…"

Rory stood up and looked at him, "Ssh I want to do it. I want to have every last second I can with you" she said as she kissed him again.

"Okay, if you insist…" Logan smiled.

He knew that it was fruitless to argue with Rory on the subject, she was going to have her way whatever he said, and if he was honest with himself, he felt exactly the same. Logan really didn't want to go back to London that morning. It wasn't that he didn't love his life in London because he really did, but the thought of leaving Rory behind in New York was a painful one. He had finally got her back in his life, where he wanted her and they had to say another goodbye, although this time it was different. This time there was a future and the promise of a life together and that was exciting. Logan just hoped that they could make it work with the distance that was going to be between them.

* * *

 **A/N: Return of the smut ;) It's my birthday today, I might treat you to Two-Chapter Thursday, maybe...**


	20. Chapter Twenty

Saying goodbye to Logan at the airport that morning had been much harder than Rory could ever have imagined. They'd said goodbye to each other many times over the past year but now it felt different somehow. Before there had been no expectations but now that they were trying to make a proper go of things, well it all just seemed that little bit harder and Rory felt that without Logan a piece of her was missing. She had managed to hold off the tears long enough to wave off Logan through the security gates, the last thing she wanted to do was make him feel bad about having to go or worry about her, but as soon as she got back into the safety and privacy of her own car, she completely lost control of her emotions and the tears just spilled out of her. Wiping them away, she cursed herself and the stupid pregnancy hormones, knowing that everything was magnified at the moment, but she was still not quite sure how she was going to do this on her own.

Rory was feeling a little lost as she drove away from the airport so she decided to go back to Stars Hollow for a few hours to see her mom, she just needed someone to talk to. When she arrived in the town, Lorelai was busy working at the Dragonfly Inn but Rory knew that her mom wouldn't mind her stopping by, she never did.

"Hey, kid! This is a nice surprise, are you okay?" Lorelai looked up from the front desk as Rory walked into the Inn. She could see from her daughter's eyes that she had been crying.

"Yeah. No. Oh, I'm okay I guess, just a little bit out of sorts. I've just dropped Logan off at the airport, he's gone back to London." Rory said sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry hun, that must suck." Lorelai gave her daughter a pitying look.

Rory smiled a little. "Yeah it does suck, so I just thought that maybe I'd hang around here for a couple of hours if that's okay? I don't really want to go home just yet."

"Of course you can, stay as long as you like," Lorelai said as she put her arm around her daughter. "You know that there's always inventory to do – those soaps don't count themselves…" she winked.

"Gee, thanks, mom. That's all I am, I'm just free labor to you aren't I?' Rory laughed.

"How about I pay you in dessert? Sookie made the world's most amazing cheesecake yesterday, wanna sit and gossip for a bit?" Lorelai smiled.

"Always" Rory smiled back as she followed her mom into the dining room with they sat with two big plates of dessert.

"So he's gone back to London huh?" Lorelai asked as she shovelled a forkful of Rocky Road cheesecake into her mouth.

"Yeah," Rory said as she purposefully stabbed at her cheesecake with a fork.

"Is he…coming back? Or…" Lorelai paused. She didn't really know realistically what the other options were for the couple, so she sat back and waited for Rory to jump in and answer the question.

Rory shook her head. "No, well obviously he'll be back at some point but right now I'm not too sure when that is going to be."

Lorelai looked at her daughter carefully. "So, I'm really sorry to ask this Rory but how exactly is this all going to work? I mean, you're together now? But he lives 4,000 miles away?"

"Yes, we're together and things are really good, well they have been for the past few days, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Rory admitted. She hated letting her mom know that there was no plan or that they hadn't yet worked out what they were going to do about their situation.

"So you're going to do the long-distance thing again?" Lorelai said as she pushed another large forkful of cheesecake into her mouth.

"There's no other real option right now. Logan's life is in London." Rory said simply.

"But what about when the baby arrives? How are you going to do this together if you're thousands of miles apart?" Lorelai pressed on at the risk of upsetting her daughter further.

"Mom…" Rory bit her lip. She didn't have the answers. She didn't know how it was going to work or even IF it was going to work but she needed to believe that it would.

"I'm not being obtuse and I'm just pointing out the obvious Rory. It's going to be pretty hard for you, living in Manhattan with a baby, on your own…" Lorelai paused.

"Well we haven't got everything figured out yet"" Rory shrugged "but there's still plenty of time before the baby is due and until then we'll just do what we have to do, he'll fly back here sometimes, I can go there…"

"Sure" Lorelai smiled "I'm sure you'll work it all out," she said, not feeling very certain of that fact. "And the annulment? How's that going?"

"Ugh, you don't even want to know about that." Rory shook her head "It turns out that we can't go for the annulment which means we have to get divorced but the advantage of that is we won't have to go to court."

"Well, that sounds better?" Lorelai said.

"Yeah, I guess so, but if it were annulled it would just be like it never happened now I'll be a divorcee." Rory pulled her face.

"That's what happens when you drink too much tequila kid" Lorelai winked.

Rory laughed "Yeah I guess so, consider it a lesson learned. I'll never get married for a bet ever again."

"Doesn't it feel a bit weird though that you're getting divorced?! I can't quite wrap my head around it!" Lorelai laughed.

"Yeah, it's a bit strange but it is what it is." Rory said "As you can imagine, Mitchum went into lower earth orbit when he found out. "

Lorelai looked at her "Why? I mean, given the history you have with that family I can hazard a few guesses but…"

"No pre-nup," Rory said matter of factly.

"Ouch" Lorelai pulled a face. "I bet that hurt him."

"Yeah, Mitchum thinks I am going to go to court and take them for millions" Rory rolled her eyes "because obviously, I've only ever been interested in Logan for his money…"

'Ugh, that family" Lorelai said "Whoops, no offence, little one…" she said leaning down to talk to Rory's tummy. "…hopefully you'll turn out to be more Gilmore than Huntzberger" she winked at Rory.

* * *

As the days passed and started to turn into weeks, Rory found that despite her initial worries, the separation from Logan became a little easier to tolerate than she had feared. She was pretty busy at work which kept her distracted through the day and they had fallen into an easy routine of catching up with each other at the same time every evening, working out that if Rory called Logan when she got in from work, she could catch him just before he was going to bed.

These daily calls were important for Logan. He had discovered that it was all too easy to feel disconnected when there was an ocean between you. This wasn't new to them, they'd done the transatlantic long distance thing when Rory was still in college but things felt different now and a couple of weeks had gone by since they were together and Logan was really missing Rory and her growing bump. He had so far managed to avoid his father who had by now broken the news to the rest of the family. Shira, as could have been predicted, had completely freaked out and retreated to a spa while Honor had called her brother to congratulate him, in her own way.

"Hey bro!" she said breezily as he answered his phone at his desk.

"Hey Honor, long time no speak"

"Clearly! As I seem to have missed out on two of the biggest events of your entire life!" Honor said.

Logan groaned "Sorry Honor, it's been a weird time…I should have told you but, well things are still getting worked out right now. I assume you heard the news from Herr Huntzberger?"

"Indeed. It caused quite the stir I can tell you" Honor said.

To call it a 'stir' was quite an understatement in truth. It had caused a full-blown row at the dinner table between her parents, the likes of which she'd never witnessed before but she wasn't about to tell Logan that now.

"I'm sure it did" Logan sighed as he rubbed his face with his hand. "Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not" Honor admitted.

Logan dreaded to think what had been said about Rory and he was just glad that neither of them had been there to witness it. He was sure there was more to come in the future but for now, all was quiet.

"What are you doing Logan?" Honor asked.

"What do you mean?" Logan said, slightly confused.

Honor sighed. "This thing with Rory…do you really know what you're getting yourself into?"

"Honor…" Logan started. He knew where the conversation was headed.

"No Logan, let me say what I want to say and you can do what you want with it but I need to get it out, okay?" she pleased.

"Fine," he said as he sank back in his chair.

"She broke your heart, Logan. You laid yourself out for her and she walked away from you. Now, I know perhaps there were extenuating circumstances around that but we all know how long it took for you to get over that. I can't bear the thought of seeing you go through that again" Honor said.

Logan listened to his sister. "I appreciate the concern Honor but things are good. We're both older now, we want the same things…There's no reason for anyone to get hurt."

"But you live on different continents, Logan! Last time Rory wouldn't even move across the country with you!" Honor said exasperatedly.

"You know that it was about more than moving to California, Honor. That's not why we broke up" Logan said.

"Maybe not, but, I just want you to be careful okay? It's not that I don't like Rory because I really do and I think when things are going well for the both of you, then she's really good for you but when things are bad…" Honor trailed off.

It was the truth, she really did like Rory but Honor had seen first-hand the impact of their breakup after Logan had proposed to her. It had been the worst thing he'd ever gone through, losing the love of his life, and she'd had to try and help him pick up the pieces. It had broken her own heart to watch her usually confident and self-assured brother fall apart and there was no way she wanted to see that happen again.

"Okay, I'll be careful" Logan smiled, Honor had always been over-protective of him and he knew the things she said to him weren't from a place of malice but from love. "Thanks for the big sis talk" he joked.

"Anytime" she laughed. "Anyway, congratulations on the baby. If you're happy and this is what you want then I guess that's all that really matters. You'll be great parents" she smiled.

* * *

Rory had also used the time she had to fill in family members and friends of her news – not only that she was having a baby but also to let them know that they shouldn't be too surprised when they read about her forthcoming divorce from the babies father. Some of her friends found the whole thing quite amusing but it was safe to say her grandparents were less amused by the whole saga, although they were very much looking forward to becoming great-grandparents and despite everything, they had always thought that Logan was the perfect match for Rory.

"So, let me get this right, Rory. You are telling us that you 'drunkenly' married Logan Huntzberger in Las Vegas of all places, you're now getting a divorce but you're having a baby? And all this while he was engaged to someone else?" Emily said scornfully.

"That's about the crux of it" Rory grimaced "Except, Logan wasn't engaged to Odette grandma, that was pretty much a rumor."

"Ha!" Emily scoffed "And that makes it a whole lot better does it? Regardless of the status of their relationship, you were both dishonest."

"I know," Rory said as she looked down at the floor.

"Now Emily, what is done is done," Richard said, "I think we should concentrate on the fact that Rory and Logan make a wonderful couple, we've always thought that, and they're bringing a new baby into the world. This is good news!"

Emily shot Richard a look but her face mellowed as Rory handed over the picture from her scan.

"Oh, Rory. A new baby is such a blessing" she smiled as she looked at the picture. "It's not the ideal situation of course," Emily said as she looked at her granddaughter "but que sera and if you're happy then who are we to interfere."

"Thanks, grandma, thanks, grandpa" Rory smiled at her grandparents. She had expected her grandparents to be a little disappointed in her but she'd hoped that they'd come around to see the joy in the situation.

"Just imagine Emily, a little baby with his blonde hair and her blue eyes" Richard smiled at his wife.

* * *

 **A/N: And here endeth the second chapter of the day! Just one point to note, a couple of people have mentioned Odette - I just wanted to clarify that Logan ended things with her at the beginning of Chapter 18.**


	21. Chapter Twenty One

One Sunday morning, a few weeks after Logan had gone back to England, Steph had called up Rory to see if she wanted to go out for brunch. It had been a while since she'd had a proper catch up with her friend and she'd been stuck in the apartment all weekend so Rory jumped at the chance to get out and about. As she sat in a café downtown waiting for her friend to arrive, her cell phone started ringing in her bag. Rory, fully expected it to be Steph telling her she was running late. She pulled her cell phone out and smiled when she saw the name that flashed up on the screen.

"Well, well, well, to what do I owe this honor?" she smiled as she answered the call.

"I was at a loose end and had nothing better to do…" Logan joked.

"Nice!" Rory exclaimed. "Always good to know that I'm just a good way to fill some time…"

"Aww Ace, you know you're much more than that" he smiled "I've been missing you, I just wanted to hear your voice."

Rory smiled "Oh you're a real smooth talker Huntzberger. I'm missing you too, a lot."

"What are you up to? It sounds really noisy. Where are you?" Logan asked.

"I'm meant to be meeting Steph for brunch but obviously she's late, again" Rory groaned. "One day she'll actually be on time for something and then I shall keel over in shock," she said as she absentmindedly picked off her chipped nail polish, making a mental note to fit in a manicure this week.

"Damn, and just think, if you had known that Steph wasn't going to be on time today, you would have had a little extra time to fix up your nails. That lavender Ace, I don't really think it's you…"

Rory paused and looked down at her fingernails "How did you….oh my god Logan are you here?" she jumped up off her chair and looked around before she saw him walk into the café. She screamed and ran up to him throwing her arms around his neck.

"Argh! What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" she squealed so loud people started to turn around and look at them.

"Now where's the fun in that?" he smirked "I wanted to surprise you Ace"

"Well, you certainly did that! So no Steph?" Rory said with a raised eyebrow.

"No Steph" Logan smirked. Surprising Rory was one of his favorite things to do and he was rather pleased with himself for having successfully pulled it off.

Rory shook her head at him. "You used her as part of your ruse?"

"She'll get over it," Logan said as he pulled Rory in and kissed her.

"Right, well now that I know I am not waiting for Steph to arrive, can we please eat?" she begged.

"Hungry?" he laughed.

"Two really important things that you are forgetting Huntzberger. Firstly I am a Gilmore, you know that we need topping up regularly and secondly…" she said pointing down at her tummy "I'm eating for two now."

"Any excuse" he laughed "Come on let's feed you up," he said as they sat down at the table.

* * *

After they had finished brunch they headed straight back to Rory's apartment – where she wasted no time in making sure that Logan satisfied a different hunger.

"So how tired are you after your flight?" Rory asked as she pulled Logan towards her bedroom.

"I'm okay…" he smiled "…though, a little lie down wouldn't hurt"

"Right answer. Though there's not going to be much sleeping" she said as she pulled him down onto the bed with her.

They very quickly shed their clothes and Rory rested her hands on Logan's back, to pull him closer toward her. He used his hands to pull her head towards him and he kissed her passionately, his tongue exploring her mouth. She pressed her body against his as they kissed and they could each sense the other's growing arousal. Logan moved from her mouth to trail a line of soft kisses down the side of her neck. The feeling of his touch was incredible. A soft moan escaped Rory's lips as she began to feel the moisture forming between her legs. The feel of skin on skin was electric as the heat continued to build between them and not wanting it to stop she threw her arms around him and ran her fingers through his hair. He looked up at her and smiled before he continued to feather kisses down until he met her breasts. She gasped as he took her nipple in between his fingers and pinched it slightly before bringing it to his mouth, teasing her with his tongue.

Rory wrapped her legs around him tightly, pulling him down towards her. She could feel his arousal moving against her as he kissed her body with increasing intensity. She wanted him so bad. Rory closed her eyes and shuddered as she felt him slowly descend down her body, kissing softly all the time. She opened her eyes when Logan stopped kissing as he moved between her legs. She could feel his hot breath and his hands gently parted her legs further to gain more access and she held her breath in anticipation of what was coming.

Logan placed his tongue against her and pressed firmly as he moved it as slowly as possible. Rory's head fell backward and she arched her hips.

"Oh god Logan, do that again" she said breathlessly.

Her fingers laced into his hair and he didn't hesitate to oblige, keeping up the pressure and pace as her hips rose up to maintain contact. As her hips started to buck harder, he moved faster and slipped a finger into her. Rory let out a long loud moan as he pulled back out and slid two fingers in and slowly started to thrust them back and forth. She started to pant loudly, her desperate moans getting more out of control as he kept up his efforts, flicking his tongue against her.

"Oh my god" she moaned with lustful pleasure as she felt the waves of her orgasm building. She arched her hips and held tightly to his head with a fistful of his hair. With her free hand, she grabbed at the sheet to anchor herself as she let out a scream of pleasure and came loudly.

She relaxed back onto the bed "That was…amazing" she said softly with her eyes closed.

Logan looked up and her and smiled "We haven't finished yet," he said as he crawled back up the bed. He slid his hands up her arms and held them above her head as he kissed Rory firmly. Her breath caught in her throat as she moved her hips against him, signaling what it was she wanted. Logan lay over her, teasing her entrance. Rory wanted to free her hands so she could pull him into her immediately but Logan did not let her go as he teased her for a moment longer before he slowly pushed into her.

He groaned at the sensation "Fuck, you feel so good"

Logan stopped moving for a moment and just enjoyed the feeling of being inside Rory once again as she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist. He had missed this so much and it was practically all he could do to not topple over the edge right there and then. He bent down to kiss her as he ran his hand over her breast and gently pinched her nipple as he started to move in and out of her.

"That feels incredible" Rory moaned into his mouth, as he released her hands and their hips moved to meet each other. After having just experienced what could only be described as an earth-shattering orgasm, she couldn't believe how close she already felt to another one.

With one hand on her waist and the other interlocked with Rory's above her head, Logan supported himself and thrust harder and harder. The sound of her panting and moaning encouraged him on and they sped up the pace and increased the intensity.

"Oh god, Rory" Logan cried out. He couldn't believe just how good it felt.

"Logan…" she panted "I'm going to come"

Logan leaned down to kiss her and breathed against her ear. "I love it when you come. I love making you feel so good."

For the second time, Rory let out a long moan of pleasure as she found her release. Logan continued to thrust while she contracted around him, her orgasm feeling so good to him that it drove him over the edge and with a loud groan he emptied into her.

Logan pulled out of Rory and they collapsed on to the bed to catch their breath. He pulled her into his arms and they kissed passionately before. They lay in the bed snuggled up together, just enjoying being close to each other again.

"Wow, I have missed that," Logan said with a smile.

"Doesn't it feel rather decadent being in bed on a Sunday afternoon?" Rory said as she rested her head gently on Logan's chest.

"I've got to be honest Ace, I feel a little used" Logan smiled. "I mean, I come back to see you and you just drag me to your bedroom…."

"Oh really? I didn't hear you complaining about it…" she giggled.

"Oh, I am not complaining one little bit. You will NEVER hear me complain about that. That was well worth flying thousands of miles for" he said as he kissed the top of her head.

"Perhaps we should make it really worth your while?" Rory said as she looked up at him.

"Again Ace? You're insatiable" Logan said as he pulled her face toward him and kissed her. Rory giggled as they found themselves back under the covers in just moments.

* * *

While Rory would have been more than happy to have just spent the rest of the day cuddled up with Logan in her bed, doing unmentionable things, he had in fact made plans for them to go out that night and meet up with their friends. She hadn't actually seen most of them since their time in Las Vegas so even though her preferred activity would have involved her and Logan naked for the remainder of the day, she was excited to meet up with them.

"Well well well, what have we have here," Finn said as Rory and Logan walked into the restaurant "If it isn't the Huntzbergers" he smirked.

Rory rolled her eyes. The Mr & Mrs jokes were never going to get old. "Hi Finn," she said as he stood up and greeted her with a big hug.

He pulled away and looked at her. "Err Rory, I don't mean to be rude love, but you might want to lay off the pie a little, you're filling out there" he winked.

She smiled at him "Well, that tends to happen when you're pregnant…"

Finn faked shock and clasped his hand to his chest. "What? You're pregnant? Who did this to you? Do you want me to sort them out?"

Logan laughed at his friend. "I'd like to see you try," he said slapping his friend on the back.

"Rory you look great, how are you feeling?" Rosemary asked.

"Oh, not so bad now that that the morning sickness seems to have passed, that was pretty rough going for a while" Rory grimaced. She'd never been so glad as when the sickness had finally disappeared. Starting each and every day with her head down the toilet had been hard going for a few weeks.

"It's really great news! How far along are you now?" Juliet asked excitedly.

"About four months" she smiled as she sat down at the table next to the girls.

"Wow, I really can't believe that after all this time, you two are actually having a baby," Rosemary said. "It's crazy!"

"I'll be honest, nor can we" Rory smiled.

Rory looked up at Logan who was stood talking with the guys. He caught her eye and smiled back at her. She blushed as he winked at her. She couldn't believe that he could still have that effect on her – one suggestive look could turn her legs to jelly.

"Ugh you guys really are something else" Steph groaned as she looked from Logan to Rory.

"What?!" Rory exclaimed. "What did we do?"

"You're already making eyes at each other over the table," Steph said as she shook her head. "Can't you just leave each other alone for a few hours?"

"We've missed each other" Rory shrugged. "Haven't we?" she said as she leaned her head back to look up at Logan as he came up behind her and kissed her on the top of the head.

"Sure have, and we've got a lot of making up for lost time to do," Logan said as he gently rubbed her shoulders.

"Well if you could just wait until you get home before you start that process, I think we'd all be grateful" Colin laughed.

"Oh don't worry Colin, that process was well and truly started this afternoon" Rory giggled.


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

_**September 2016**_

The summer weeks passed by quite slowly for Rory, especially as she had been missing Logan so much. His surprise visit to New York had been a real pick-me-up for her and she had been so unbelievably happy to see him. They'd had the best few days together, just spending time completely wrapped up in each other, but of course, this meant that it had been immensely difficult to have to say another emotional goodbye again just a few days later.

What had made the summer feel even longer was the fact that Logan had been so busy with his work in London he just hadn't been able to get away, it had now been five weeks since they'd actually managed to spend any time together. As the weeks passed, Rory was finding it increasingly hard for them to be apart, especially since while he had been back in London, Logan had missed out on some key moments of her pregnancy- like her follow-up doctors appointment or more significantly, when she had felt the baby kicking for the first time. She had of course called Logan as soon as it happened, regardless of the fact that she had to wake him up at 2 am to talk about it, but it just wasn't the same.

Rory had been starting to feel a little bit fed up of their situation and the completely separate lives that they were living. She felt frustrated that they didn't seem to be moving forward in any way and she vented these feelings to her friend Ryan over lunch one day when they had met to catch up. Ryan had listened to Rory carefully before he turned things around and made her see things differently – if Logan couldn't come see her, why didn't she go there? She couldn't believe that she hadn't actually considered making the trip to see him, and the more she thought about it, the more appealing it sounded, so towards the end of the summer she decided to just take some time off work herself and fly out to London to see him for a few days.

Logan was glad when Rory made plans to visit him in London. He was understandably a little worried about her traveling while she was pregnant but her doctor had assured her that it was absolutely fine for her to fly, as she was completely healthy. In an ideal world, Logan would have much preferred to have gone back to New York to see her but things at HPG had been crazy busy and there was just no way he was going to escape. Plus, on top of everything, he'd had the added delight of a visit from his father and while fleeing the country to avoid him would have been preferable, he knew that it wouldn't have been a great idea. Logan had met Mitchum at a local restaurant to catch up over lunch. They'd made pleasantries and talked business but as it had only been a matter of time before the conversation had turned to Logan's personal life.

"So, how's Rory?" Mitchum asked as he took a sip of his scotch. He had waited long enough to see if Logan had mentioned her at all.

Logan raised an eyebrow at his father. "She's fine."

"That's good" Mitchum acknowledged. "And the baby?"

"The baby is fine too. I heard dinner with Mom and Honor was…interesting" Logan said.

"Ah, yes, well, I suppose it would be fair to say that your mother didn't really take the news too well," Mitchum said uncomfortably.

"And you did?" Logan scoffed. He wasn't surprised that his mom would over-react but his dad hadn't exactly sounded thrilled when he had first told him about Rory.

"Logan, I was surprised that's all. I've never disliked Rory…your love life is your own business…" Mitchum said.

The truth was he really did like Rory, she was good for Logan and he had been a little disappointed that their relationship had hit the skids after college, although, he would never have told Logan that. Rory was beautiful, bright, and intelligent and most importantly, she wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in or the people that she loved and that was a quality that Mitchum admired in her. There weren't many people in his life that would tell him exactly what they thought of him and surprisingly, he really liked that about her.

"Really?!" Logan looked at his father incredulously. "Is that so? Because I don't remember you being all that thrilled when you found about out our Las Vegas wedding."

"Come on Logan. That's a bit of a different situation and you know it. That wasn't about Rory, not really, I'd have reacted the same about anyone you'd stupidly run off and married without a second thought. It's a pretty significant legal and financial issue. Although given the fact that you're now having a baby together, it begs the question why you're even bothering with a divorce." Mitchum said as he cut into his steak.

"What?" Logan looked up at his father.

Mitchum looked at his son. "Well, on the one hand, you're telling me that you and Rory are together now and that you're having a child and then on the other, you're getting divorced. It really doesn't make much sense."

Logan shook his head at his father. "God Dad, I never know if I am coming or going with this family. You completely freak out at me for marrying Rory and now, let me get this straight, you are saying that we should stay married?"

Mitchum held his hands up in defense. "I'm just saying, it's an odd situation that's all and seeing as you have plans to be together…"

"Well, we've not even talked about that as an option," Logan said as he interrupted his father. He took a sip of his water. "We've not even decided what we're going to do about our work and living situation yet" he sighed. "There's a lot to work out."

Mitchum raised an eyebrow at his son. "It sounds like you two should probably start talking, and soon."

If there was one thing Logan hated, it was having to admit that his father was right but in these circumstances he was. He and Rory had managed to bury their heads in the sand for the past few months, neither of them actually prompting the conversation that could lead to a definitive decision about their living arrangements, but maybe it was time. He wasn't sure why they had avoided it or what Rory's concerns might be, but deep down Logan was scared that this was something that could be a deal-breaker in their relationship, and if it was? He really didn't know how they would find a way around it.

* * *

When Rory landed at Heathrow Airport a few days later, Logan had been scheduled to be in an important meeting that he just couldn't escape from so he had gallantly made sure that there was a car there waiting to collect her from the airport to whisk her straight over to his house. He had left her a message letting her know that he was sorry for not being there but that he'd be at home to meet her by the time she arrived.

Ever true to his word, Logan was there, waiting to greet her at the door with the biggest smile. He'd had to run out of his meeting to make sure that he got back home in time but the last thing he wanted was for her to arrive at an empty house after she had traveled so far. When the car pulled up, he rushed over to open the door and as she stepped out of the vehicle, he squeezed her tight.

"Take it easy Huntzberger! I still need oxygen to breathe you know" she squealed.

Logan pulled away and smiled at her "Sorry, I've just really missed you" he said before he stopped to take a good look at her. They had been apart for five long weeks and the changes in Rory's body were now so much more noticeable. "Wow Ace, you've really popped out," he said as he rubbed his hand gently across her tummy. There was definitely no mistaking that she was pregnant now. "It's kind of sexy you know…"

Rory shook her head and smiled at him. "Do you know what would make me feel sexier?" she whispered suggestively as Logan looked at her suspiciously. "A lovely hot shower and some delicious food. I feel totally gross after that flight and as for airline meals? They legally shouldn't be able to call that food" she pulled a face.

Logan laughed. "Okay, well why don't you go have your lovely shower and I'll order in some dinner for us. Do you have a preference?"

"No, I'm sure whatever you get will be fine" she smiled. "Do you want to lead the way to the shower? I've never been here before, remember?" Rory said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh god, that's right! Sorry, I totally forgot that out of all the places you let me have my wicked way with you, my house oddly wasn't one of them" he laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that will change" she winked.

"I damn well hope so" Logan smirked. "They were a long five weeks. Come with me" he said as he picked up her suitcase and led her upstairs to his bedroom.

"Ah so this is where the great Logan Huntzberger sleeps," she said as she walked into the room. "It's really nice."

"Thanks. I could take all the credit for my great taste in furniture, but I'd totally be lying. I hired an interior designer…" he smiled. "So, the shower is just through there and there's plenty of clean towels in that closet" he pointed at a door in the corner of the room. "I'll leave you to it…"

"Thanks" Rory smiled as Logan left the room and he went back downstairs. She climbed into the shower and let the warm water cascade over the body. After the long flight, it felt good to get herself freshened up and Logan's rain shower felt like a miracle worker on her aching body. After an uncomfortable overnight flight spent in a tiny airline seat, she kind of regretted not accepting Logan's generous offer to pay for her to fly first class.

After she managed to extract herself from the shower she sat on the edge of Logan's bed to dry her hair with a towel. She looked around his bedroom. It was so very typically Logan – utterly stylish and absolutely immaculate. That was one thing she'd always liked about him – he was always very neat and tidy, though she very much expected that there was some paid cleaning staff working their magic here – he had never seemed the type to pick up a vacuum. Rory looked through her suitcase to find something suitable to put on and she eventually she settled on a light sundress as the weather was warm. She headed downstairs to join Logan where he was waiting for her in the kitchen.

"Does that feel better?" Logan asked.

He looked up at Rory as she walked into the room. Her hair was messed up from being towel-dried, she had not a scrap of make-up on and she was barefoot, wearing a simple dress that clung to her neat but growing bump. It sounded completely cheesy, even in his own head, but in that moment, Logan thought that Rory had never looked more beautiful. He only wished he could freeze the picture and remember forever just how beautiful, relaxed and carefree she truly looked. There were times when Logan still found it pretty hard to comprehend that this was actually his life now - that Rory was finally all his, and to top it off, she was having his baby. There were times when he felt very much like he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Much better," she said as she sat down at the counter next to him. "That's a great shower."

Logan passed her a cup of coffee and laughed at her as she picked up the cup and inhaled it.

"Decaf? Seriously?" Rory said as she shook her head. "You can go off people you know Huntzberger."

"How can you even tell from the smell! Anyway, you know that you shouldn't have too much caffeine when you're pregnant…" he warned.

Rory pulled a face at him. "It's not fair!"

"Don't worry Ace, I'll make it up to you" Logan promised with a smile.

"Oh yeah? And just how are you going to make this better?" Rory asked. "Coffee deprivation is a serious matter."

"With the unbelievable amount of Mexican food that will be arriving in the next thirty minutes," he smiled.

"I knew I loved you for a reason," she said as she sipped her coffee.

It wasn't long before the food arrived and they set it up in the living room while they watched a movie. When Rory could finally eat no more she lay back on the sofa with her legs up on Logan's lap while he massaged her feet.

"Oh god, that's amazing" she sighed "I can't believe that I am already struggling with cankles" she groaned.

"You have not got cankles!" Logan laughed.

"Pregnancy is nothing if not uber-glamorous," Rory said sarcastically. "I wish you could do this for me every night," she said as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensations.

"So do I Ace, so do I," Logan said as he gently rubbed her feet some more.


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

The next day Logan had to go to into the office so Rory just spent the day hanging out at his house, generally just relaxing and losing herself in a good book until he could get home to her. She'd been a little disappointed but he had assured her that he'd cleared his schedule for the rest of the time she was in London. He managed to escape early and when he arrived back to his house later that he found her lying on the sofa reading. Logan smiled when he saw her little baby bump peeking out from underneath her t-shirt.

"I have to say Ace, pregnancy is really working for you," Logan said as he walked into the living room.

Rory sat up at the sound of his voice and smiled. "Well now I've reached over six months I feel SO much better, plus there's a new side effect I've recently discovered," she said suggestively.

"Oh yeah…" Logan said with a raised eyebrow as he sat down next to her on the sofa. "I'm intrigued…"

"It must be the extra blood flow or something but all I can think about is sex…which has been kind of inconvenient when your boyfriend lives on another continent" Rory whispered in Logan's ear as she ran her hand slowly up his thigh and started to unbutton his pants as she kissed him.

She got up from where she was sitting and kneeled down in front of him, tugging on his pants as a cue for him to raise his hips slightly so that she could pull his pants and shorts down. Logan willingly obliged and then let his fingers trail through her hair as she teased him a little with her hands before finally, she grasped hold of him and lightly trailed her tongue over the tip. He sighed as she moved her lips down, trailing kisses over his length before she moved back up and took him fully into her mouth and started to suck lightly. Logan moaned as she took him deeper and his hand tangled in her hair as he guided her head exactly where he wanted it.

"Fuck, Rory, that's good" he groaned as she continued to pleasure him, rhythmically sucking and licking as he pushed up towards her. After five weeks of no sex, he knew that this wasn't going to take very long.

Rory could feel him stiffen and she knew that he was getting closer to the edge. She started moving a little faster and his hands held her head down as he moaned loudly as he came. She continued until she felt his body completely relax and then she sat back on her knees and wiped her mouth. Rory looked up at Logan who had rested his head back on the sofa.

"Jesus. I wish I could come home to that every day" Logan sighed. "If we weren't already married…" he joked.

She got up from where she was sitting and kissed him. "Come on, let's go upstairs…" she said pulling him by the hand.

Logan looked at her incredulously. "You really expect it to work again after that?"

* * *

Rory had a burning need inside of her and she knew just what she needed and wanted. The past few weeks had felt ever so lonely and while there were many ways in which she could release her frustrations, her own hands really only did so much, especially when she knew just how good Logan's touch felt on her body. Nothing was ever going to match up to that. As much as she would have loved to have been able to scratch that itch when she got there, after all the travelling she had been too tired to even contemplate rolling around in the bed with him but as she'd spent all day relaxing, it was practically the only thing on her mind when he returned.

As soon as they were in the bedroom, she pulled him towards her so that his lips met hers, their tongues exploring each other hungrily. She felt her body melt into him as it had done many times before as they pressed against each other. Somehow, while still attached to one another, they made it over to the bed and while neither of them would ever be able to remember how it happened, they were both naked within moments and Logan was on top of her gently massaging her breasts. Rory pulled him deeper into a kiss, urging him to continue. She'd almost forgotten exactly how good it felt when he had his hands on her like this. She could feel herself getting wetter and longed for him to be inside her.

Logan ran his hands down Rory's body – something he had thought about a lot in the past few weeks. He started to feather kisses all over her – trailing down her neck until he reached her breasts. She gasped as he ran his tongue around her nipples and gently sucked them one at a time. Rory raised her hips up to meet his and they ground against each other as Logan reached up to kiss her again.

"Please Logan," she said as she nibbled firmly on his lower lip "I have missed this so much…"

"Not yet" he smiled and shook his head at her.

He lowered his head back down to her breasts and then kissed his way down her body, breathing lightly onto her inner thighs. Rory drew a deep breath and gripped the bed sheets tight as he started to tease her. Logan focused his tongue on her – gently licking and sucking all the time. Her moans started to become more pronounced as he continued to pleasure her and he slipped two fingers inside of her. She released the sheets that she had been holding onto so tightly and grabbed hold of his head as he thrust his fingers into her quicker and quicker. As she came, clenching around his fingers, she loudly cried out his name. Rory let go of her grip on him and sighed contentedly as she pulled him up next to her. She turned her head and kissed him, tasting herself on his lips.

"Now that is something I REALLY missed" she smiled as she ran her fingers through her hair ""but don't worry, we're not done yet."

Rory rolled Logan over onto his back and positioned herself over him. They kissed, long, deep and passionately as she pressed her body against his and rubbed herself against his hardness. They moaned into each other's mouths as Rory sank down onto him. There they stayed there looking at each other for a moment just enjoying the sensation of her on top of Logan with him inside of her. Without breaking eye contact, Rory slowly started moving up and down.

"God yes" Logan sighed.

"Good?" Rory asked breathlessly as she started to pick up the pace.

"So fucking good" he groaned. He couldn't believe just how good she felt. After weeks of being apart, it felt pretty sweet to have her lavishing attention on him.

Slowly Rory increased the speed, moving faster against him. She closed her eyes and moaned as his hands slid across her breasts and tweaked at her nipples. Logan could feel his orgasm building up inside. Rory leaned forward and kissed him as he moved his hands around to her ass, guiding her up and down. She broke the kiss as she moaned against his mouth and her breathing started to become more erratic. The sound of Rory's own growing pleasure was driving Logan crazy and he knew that it would not be long before he lost control. She sat back up and took hold of his hand, gripping it tightly. Their eyes locked and she smiled at him before she moaned loudly as he thrust his hips upwards.

"I love it when you moan like that, it's so hot" he panted. "Are you nearly there?"

Rory closed her eyes and nodded. She moved her free hand down between her legs and began slowly rubbing herself and just a few moments later, Logan felt her tighten around him, pulsating and squeezing as her orgasm rushed through her body and she cried out loudly. It was more than enough to make him lose control and with a load groan, he erupted into her. Rory leaned down and kissed Logan before she carefully slid off him and he wrapped his arms around her.

Having finally worn each other out, Rory and Logan lay face-to-face in his bed, just relaxing and talking.

Logan brushed some of Rory's hair out of her eyes. "You're the sexiest woman I've ever met," he told her as he leaned over to kiss her.

"What? Even now? With all this going on?" she gestured down at her baby bump and laughed.

"Even more so now. Rory, you're perfect. All of you. I love having you here" he said as he looked into her blue eyes, running his hand down her back.

"I love being here. You know…I could always stay…" Rory said as she bit her lip a little nervously. She'd wanted to bring up the subject with him but she hadn't been sure of the best way to approach it. Figuring there really was no time like the present, she decided to just go for it.

"What?" he pulled back a little and looked at her confused.

"I miss you, Logan. I hate that you're here and I'm there and we can't do this whenever we want to" Rory sighed. "I hate that you're missing things with the baby. I want to wake up with you every day. I want to come and live in London with you."

"Wow," Logan said. He hadn't seen that coming at all. "I want all that too Ace, I really do, but…are you serious? I mean, what about your job? You love your job?" Logan said.

Rory shrugged at him "I do love my job but you know, I'm due to take some leave in a few months anyhow and… I'm only going to get twelve weeks off" she bit her lip "I've been thinking about it recently and well, I'm not sure that I am going to want to go back that soon."

"You want to take some time out?" Logan asked, a little surprised.

He didn't want to show too much excitement or pin too much on it but the thought that Rory wanted to move to London to be with him, well that was big. While they had been apart, he'd been trying hard to find a way to join her in New York but it just wasn't coming together for hin. He hadn't spoken to her about any of it as he hadn't wanted her to worry or feel pressured as he was confident that eventually he'd be able to work something out somehow but this, this was perfect.

"I think I do" she smiled. "I never thought I would want that but the more I think about it, the more it feels the right thing to do. I don't want to have a stranger looking after our baby when it's so young and there's no family around me in New York…and well it seems silly you moving heaven and earth with your job to come to New York if I'm not even going to be working" she rambled.

"Rory, as long as you are completely happy, then I would love it if you would stay here," he said kissing her and holding her tight.

* * *

They spent the rest of the evening talking excitedly about Rory's plans to move to London and the next day over breakfast, Rory thought she'd bring up the other elephant in the room - and the thing they had avoided talking about over the past few months.

"So, I've not heard anything for a while, I was just wondering what is actually happening with this divorce," she asked, trying to act casual.

Logan put down his coffee and looked at her. "I guess we need to talk about that. You know Ace, it just kind of seems weird now…"

Rory smiled at him. "I know what you mean, but we can't just stay married," she said laughing.

"Why not?' Logan shrugged and smiled at her.

"Because that's totally crazy!" she exclaimed "Plus, if I am ever going to get married, I want a wedding one day, a proper one. Minus Elvis and a bridesmaid in a bikini." She rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of what they had done.

"Well you know, there's nothing stopping us from doing that one day, although I guess that's only going to work if you see that person you're marrying being me" he smirked "but for the record, I'd just like it to be noted that being married to you? So far it doesn't suck…"

"Wow Logan, I think that's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me" Rory joked as she clutched her hand to her chest and pretended to swoon.

"Come on Ace, what do you say? Let's just call it all off. I mean what's the point of getting divorced just to get remarried in the future?" Logan reasoned.

"Well, you're taking quite a few liberties there Huntzberger, who said I'd marry you?" Rory said with a smile.

"Oh you would SO marry me" he smirked "in fact, you already did" he winked as he bit into his Danish pastry.

* * *

 **A/N: Nothing like a smut-fest to start off a Monday morning huh?**

 **One of my commenters on the last chapter mentioned that they weren't sure about getting Mexican food in London - I just wanted to respond to that and say that as I am British, I can definitely confirm that we have LOTS of Mexican food, it's one of my favorites to cook and eat out. London especially is a complete melting pot when it comes to international cuisine. You name it, you'll find it in London! Our little island is a very diverse country!**


	24. Chapter Twenty Four

Later that day Rory and Logan headed off to a private clinic in Harley Street to have a 4D scan. As he'd been in London, Logan had missed the last doctor's appointment and so he was keen to see the baby again. They'd also decided that they wanted to find out the sex of the baby and as Rory hadn't wanted to do this on her own, the appointment at the private clinic was going to be their first opportunity.

The sonographer welcomed them into the room and Rory got herself comfortable on the bed. The cold gel was applied to her tummy and pretty soon the image of their baby appeared on the screen. Rory and Logan were blown away by the 4D scan, they could see all the tiny features and to their surprise, their baby was merrily sucking on its little thumb.

"So, would you like me to tell you the gender of your baby?" the sonographer asked.

"Yes please" Rory smiled.

"Okay…" the sonographer said as she ran the doppler over Rory's tummy again. "I'm very pleased to tell you that you're having a little girl" she smiled.

"A girl?" Rory gasped. She had no real preference either way but she was still a little emotional to find out that it was a girl. She looked up at Logan. "Is that okay?" she asked.

"What do you mean is that okay?" he laughed. "It's more than okay Ace! I can't wait to meet our daughter" he said as she kissed her on the head.

"Me neither" she smiled as she turned back to look at the screen.

* * *

After they left the clinic, Logan told Rory that he had to run into the office to sort a few things but had told her that he wanted to take her out to dinner that night and so he had made reservations for them at The Ivy and arranged a car to collect her from his house at 8 pm.

Rory really wanted to make sure she looked nice for Logan so while he was at work she decided to take herself off shopping. For a while, when she was in the awkward in-between stage of her pregnancy, it had been hard to find clothes that she felt good in but now she had a well and truly defined baby bump she had invested in some maternity clothes and that day she found a gorgeous fitted black dress for their date that night.

Right on cue, the car that Logan had arranged for her was waiting outside. She took a look at herself in the mirror before she walked out of is the house. Rory was really self-conscious about her appearance now she was heading into the third trimester but for the first time in a while, she felt that she looked good. When she arrived at The Ivy, Logan was waiting for her at the table.

"You look amazing," he said as he stood up and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. "New dress?"

"Yeah, I bought it today" she smiled.

"I like it" he nodded. "It looks good on you," he said as they both sat down at the table. Logan picked up his drink and took a swig. "Okay, I need to just say something…and this can't wait"

Rory looked up at him. "Oh?" she said trying to read his face. He looked uncomfortable.

"There is a reason I wanted us to come out tonight," he said. "I wanted to give you this," he said as he handed her a small blue box.

Rory immediately recognized the distinctive turquoise box and white ribbon as being from Tiffanys. She looked at him and took it out of his hand before she carefully opened it up. She looked down at the sparkling diamond studded platinum band that was nestling inside the box and looked back up at Logan questioningly.

"Because we seem to like doing things back to front…" he smiled "…I thought if we really are going to stay married then you really needed a wedding ring. And that's not all…" he said as he placed another box down on the table.

"Wow," Rory said suddenly feeling a little warm and overwhelmed.

She opened up the second box and gasped audibly. Inside the box was a beautiful platinum engagement ring with a four-carat brilliant round diamond at the center, flanked by two large pear shaped diamonds. It was, quite simply, the most breathtaking piece of jewelry that she had seen.

"Logan…I… don't really know what to say" she said as she looked up at him.

Logan took a deep breath. "I know that we've not gone about things the right way – nothing we ever do is conventional - and I know that perhaps proposing to you seems a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted but Rory, I want you to know, regardless of how and why we got married, I love you. I want to be able to call you my wife. I want everyone to know that I am married to the most amazing woman in the world. In my wildest dreams, I would never have dared to hope that one day I would be sitting here, married to you, having a baby…. but it's everything I ever wanted and so much more. When you're ready, we will have the wedding of your dreams. So…will you marry me? Again?" he smiled.

Rory felt herself welling up. "Of course I will, I'd marry you a thousand times over" she smiled.

"Now why couldn't you have just said the first time I asked you" Logan smirked.

"Oh ssh you and kiss me already," she said as she leaned over the table towards him.

Logan leaned over and kissed her softly before pulling away and taking the rings out of the boxes. He slipped them on her finger and she held out her hand to admire them.

"It feels kind of weird" she admitted as she stared down at her hand and wriggled her fingers.

"Weird…good?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, somehow" she laughed. " I mean, I know essentially we've been 'married' for six months now but…god, I never actually expected we'd stay married!"

Logan smiled. "Well there's no escaping now, those are never coming off"

"And I don't want them to," Rory said proudly as they entwined their fingers across the table. "What do you think of me changing my name?" she asked as she looked up at him.

"What's wrong with Rory?" he asked with a wink.

She rolled her eyes. "To Huntzberger…I mean as you say, we are married and it would feel more official don't you think?"

Logan beamed at her "I think that would be perfect" he said.

* * *

As they climbed into bed Logan grabbed hold of Rory. "I can't believe that you're all mine now. You know that you're going to be mine forever now, right?"

Rory looked at him mischievously, with her sparkling blue eyes "Prove it. Make me really yours. Make love to me Logan" she whispered suggestively as she pulled his head towards hers.

Their lips quickly found each other and they exchanged some deep, passionate kisses as their hands moved up and down their bodies. Logan gently kissed and nibbled on her neck and Rory squirmed in pleasure before he reached down and slowly removed her black lace panties before removing his own shorts. He took one of her breasts and firmly circled her nipple with his thumb as he took the other breast into his mouth, sucking slowly. Rory's breath quickened and she let her eyes close and her head roll back onto the pillow as he slowly started kissing down her body. Instinctively she spread her legs for him and he carefully slid his fingers inside her, surprised to find how aroused she already was. Logan smiled as he felt her press her hips towards him, she clearly wanted more. He leaned up and kissed her as he began sliding his fingers in and out of her. She moaned into his mouth with pleasure as they kissed furiously – he always knew exactly how to find her sweet spot – and he took this as his cue to quicken the pace. Just as she felt that she was going to come, he slid his fingers back out. Rory groaned and looked at Logan pleadingly.

He positioned himself against her entrance and watched as Rory closed her eyes in anticipation. He gently guided himself into her and when she whispered his name, he pushed inside her a little deeper. She ran her hands down his back and arched her hips up towards him as he started thrusting back and forth. After a short while, Rory's hips started to buck and her breathing became uneven. Logan pulled out slightly and reached down between them to massage gently between her legs until he could feel that familiar tremble in her body. He thrust back into her and Rory let out a long scream of pleasure as she writhed around on the bed and she begged him not to stop as she started to come. Logan felt her tighten and contract around him and he knew he was at the point of no return. He thrust into her harder and faster and as every muscle in his body tensed, he called out her name as he found his own release.

Logan collapsed onto the bed next to Rory. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. He lowered his face to hers and kissed her.

"Do you feel like your mine now?" he asked with a smirk.

"I always did" she smiled.

* * *

Rory's sojourn to London was very quickly over and the next day it was time for her to head back home to New York. Logan took her to the airport and they prepared to say their goodbyes before she had to head through security. They both felt a little glum about it but this time it was different. It had been a good visit and they'd cleared up the things that had been hanging over them. Rory was returning to the US feeling a lot more confident about their future, knowing that they'd be together for good very soon.

"How long do you think it will be before you're back?" Logan asked as he wrapped his arms around Rory's waist.

She smiled at him. "I'm not sure, soon I hope. The main stumbling block will be work but I'll speak to them as soon as possible and see what they say…"

"And you're sure about this? Absolutely sure? I mean I don't want you to do this if it's not what you want…" Logan trailed off.

"I'm sure Logan, don't worry. I think it's the best option for us right now. Things might be different in the future but for now, I think this is what we should do" she said firmly.

"Okay," he said as he kissed her on the top of the head.

"I don't know how my mum is going to take the news though" she grimaced.

Rory knew that Lorelai would not be happy about her taking off and moving to the other side of the world, she just hoped that she would be able to respect her decision.

"Yeah, good luck with that. I'm just glad I am all the way over here" Logan smiled "At least with 4,000 miles between us I am more likely to retain the use of all my limbs."

"She'll just have to get used it" Rory smiled. "Crap, I had better go through," Rory said as she looked at the time. "I'll miss you," she said sadly.

"I'll miss you too Ace. Look after yourself and look after our baby girl" he said as he bent down and planted a kiss on her tummy which made Rory smile. She loved how invested he was in them. Logan found it really hard saying goodbye to the two most precious things in his life but he felt happy knowing that they had now made the decision to moving forward as husband and wife and it wasn't going to be long until they were all together for good.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for all the comments yesterday - I never expected such a good response to Rory moving to London. Seemed like everyone agreed it was her turn to make a move!**


	25. Chapter Twenty Five

_**September 2016**_

When Rory arrived back in New York she decided that the best thing to do was to just grab the bull by the horns and get on with the things that she needed to deal with. After leaving the airport, she went back to her apartment for a quick nap and a shower before she headed into her office at Conde Nast to discuss the options for leaving her job. As soon as she was done there she decided to rip the next Band-Aid straight off and she went to see her mom in Stars Hollow.

Lorelai had been somewhat surprised to see Rory turn up on her doorstep. She knew that she had been in London with Logan and was due back soon but she had expected her to be worn out and certainly not up to driving to Stars Hollow after a long flight but she was happy to see her nonetheless.

As they sat opposite each other in Lorelai's kitchen, Rory bit her lip and looked at her mom nervously.

"Okay, come on, out with it kid," Lorelai said as she sipped her hot cup of coffee carefully.

Rory looked across at her mom. "How do you know there's anything to get out?"

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Please! I know that face. It's just screaming bad news."

"Well it's not necessarily bad, that's going to be a matter of personal opinion but at the very least…I guess it is news. Four pieces of news to be exact." Rory said.

"Hold on. Let me just put this out there - if one of those pieces of news is "Mom I'm pregnant" I think that ship has well and truly sailed kid. The jig is up." Lorelai smiled.

Rory rolled her eyes. "You'd better stay sitting down because I don't really know how you are going to take all of this. I'm just going to start with the easy one first. And mom? Just let me talk okay? Questions later."

"Okay, my lips are sealed" Lorelai promised, but they both knew that when it came down to it, that would never be the case.

"Okay. Well, firstly, when I was in London this week, Logan and I went for a scan and we found out that we're having a girl" Rory said as she placed her hand protectively on her tummy.

"Oh my god Rory that's wonderful," Lorelai said excitedly. "Wow, another Gilmore girl! Aww, I just can't wait to meet her."

"Yeah it is wonderful, we're both very happy, but just hold that thought for one moment, because after the scan, this happened," Rory said as she held up her hand to show off her matching engagement and wedding rings.

"Argh, my eyes. I'm blind!" Lorelai joked. "That's some bling you've got there kid!" she said as she looked closely at Rory's hand.

"Yeah" Rory smiled as she ran her fingers over the rings that Logan had presented her with earlier that week. It had been a complete surprise and she'd made a mental note to keep her eye out for something perfect for him too.

"So what does this mean? Are you engaged? But you're married already? I'm really confused right now…are you still getting divorced?" Lorelai rambled, breaking her promise not to ask questions.

"We've decided to stay married, hence the wedding ring" Rory shrugged "and then, Logan proposed to me over dinner…"

"Even though you're already married…" Lorelai said.

"Yes, even though we're already married" Rory rolled her eyes at her mom "but it was really sweet and he was really romantic…"

Lorelai pulled a face at her daughter. "Oh gee, there she goes with the Harlequin romance face again."

"Oh stop it. Anyhow once Baby H has made her grand entrance into the world, we're going to have a proper wedding, but this time with less tequila." Rory grimaced.

"An excellent idea, my mother will approve." Lorelai nodded.

She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the whole Logan and Rory being married scenario but she didn't want to be the one to step all over her daughter's happiness. Lorelai could see that Rory was on edge talking to her about all of this and she didn't really want to make things more difficult for her so she decided to push her personal opinions about the whole situation to one side.

"Which leads me nicely onto the next news – from this point forwards, I am officially going to be changing my name," Rory said firmly.

"Ooh let me guess what it's going to be!" Lorelai said sarcastically. "To…Ermintrude? Drusilla? Ooh I know, I know…Griselda!"

Rory cocked her head at her mom. "To Huntzberger. Legally, I already am one…and we're going to be a family so it makes sense." It was going to take her a little while to get used to being Rory Huntzberger but her immediate feelings were that she didn't hate it.

"So no Baby Girl Gilmore?" Lorelai pouted.

"I'm afraid not," Rory said as she patted her tummy. "She is most definitely going to be a Huntzberger."

"Poor kid" Lorelai grimaced.

"Mom!" Rory shrieked. "I'm also a Huntzberger remember…"

"I feel sorry for the both of you" Lorelai looked at her daughter and shrugged. "The thought of being legally bound to that family…"

"They're not all that bad," Rory said as she shook her head at her mom.

"If you say so…So come on, what's the fourth and final piece of news? I feel like you might be saving the best until last…" Lorelai winked.

Rory grimaced. "On the contrary. This is the one that you're really not going to like."

"Hit me," Lorelai said. "I'm a big girl."

Rory took a deep breath and spoke quickly before she changed her mind. "Well...I am going to be moving to London to live with Logan."

"What!" Lorelai gasped, the mood in the kitchen turning very serious all of a sudden. "No! You can't move to London Rory! Tell me you're joking."

Rory smiled sympathetically "I'm sorry, I'm not joking mom, I really am moving."

"What?! When?" Lorelai asked in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. All of other stuff was fine - she could deal with Rory being married to Logan and everything that came with that but she hated the thought of losing her.

"I'm going to be heading over in about two weeks…" Rory bit her lip and looked at her mom.

Lorelai shook her head. "Two weeks Rory?! That's so soon!"

"I know, but it's already getting too uncomfortable to fly…" she shrugged.

"You really have to go?" Lorelai looked at her daughter sadly.

"Mom, I don't have to go, I want to go. I want to be with Logan and make this work between us. All the options have been considered, believe me, and there's no easy solution so one of us just has to make the jump and right now, I really feel like it needs to be me" Rory admitted.

"But what about your job? " Lorelai asked.

Rory had been prepared for this line of questioning from her mother and was glad that she'd already been in to see her line manager and so knew exactly what the situation was. They were of course disappointed to see Rory leave but understood her reasons and were fully supportive of her need to relocate.

"I've been in to speak to them today and they're happy for me to close down what I am working on and finish up in a week. We've discussed the possibility of doing some freelance work for them or even maybe finding some work at Conde Nast in the UK, so there are options there if I want them. They've been amazing but I'm going to be giving up work soon anyhow so it makes total sense for me to go to London. Logan loves his job, I don't want to force him away from it" Rory said.

"And so do you, " Lorelai pointed out. Her daughter had worked hard to secure this position and she hated that thought that she was now going to walk away from it.

"I know, but I really want to take some time out with the baby when she arrives so it seems unfair to drag Logan over here and away from his work when there is no real reason for me to be here," Rory said honestly.

Lorelai looked pained. "No reason? Apart from your family. Rory, I want to be able to see my granddaughter!"

Rory sighed. "I know that part is going to be difficult but you know, I'll be able to fly home sometimes and perhaps you can come out…and there are lots of ways we can keep in touch nowadays…Skype and Facetime" she rambled.

"Sure," Lorelai said as she leaned back in her chair. "God, Rory. I didn't see this coming, I feel a bit blindsided, to be honest."

"I'm sorry mom, there was never going to be a good way to tell you," Rory said "I just hope you understand that this is something that I really need to do. For me and Logan."

* * *

After hitting Lorelai with all her news at once, Rory said her goodbyes and left her mom to digest it all. Later that evening once she got back to her apartment in New York, she lay on her bed chatting to Logan on the phone.

"How did she take it all?" Logan asked.

He had felt bad that he hadn't been with her to face the line of questioning. He was sure that Lorelai would have had some choice words for him, but he also recognized that it was probably something that Rory needed to do on her own.

"Oh, as well as you might expect…" Rory said. "Actually in fairness, it really wasn't that bad, but I think she might have been in shock. My mom is just concerned about me moving and my job and all that kind of thing, but I've explained my reasons for coming to London and so I just hope she'll get on board with that."

"And what were the reasons?" Logan asked with a smile.

"Oh you know, endless bags of fish and chips, British TV, all the Cadbury's chocolate I can eat and well, there's also someone I am pretty fond of over there…" she joked.

Logan laughed "Good to know."

"Yeah, and I also went in to see my line manager today about leaving work," Rory said.

"Really? How did that go?" he asked. Logan had mixed feelings about her walking away from the job that she had so badly wanted but he knew it was her decision.

Rory smiled "It went really well and there are options for the future so it's all good. How does two weeks sound to you?"

"Are you kidding right now? Two weeks until you're back out here? That sounds amazing!" Logan said in surprise. He'd hoped that it wouldn't be long before she was back in London with him but he hadn't allowed himself to imagine it could be that soon.

"All I need to do is tie up some loose ends and get myself packed up and we'll be on our way," she said with a smile, her hand resting on her tummy while her daughter practiced her best kung fu moves on the inside. "Now I just need to figure out what to bring with me and where I am going to stay…" she joked.

"Well if you come and stay with me, I might give you your own closet…and maybe even a shelf in the bathroom" Logan smiled.

"Now there's an offer I can't refuse. Hey, you know I remember a similar offer in the past and yet I'm still waiting for those Ginsu knives…" Rory smiled.

"You know you can't be trusted around sharp implements Ace…" he teased.

"Fair point" she smiled. "There's a lot to get done. I'm not even sure what to do about my apartment. I don't think I can afford to keep it on but I'm under contract for a while so maybe I could sub-let it…" she said as she looked around her room.

"Keep your apartment Ace, I'll cover the rent."

"Logan…" she started to protest.

"It will be useful – that way when we want to fly back to New York we've got somewhere to call home, and you don't need to worry about clearing it out now, just bring what you're going to need." Logan reasoned.

"Okay, if you're sure," Rory said. "Oh my god Logan, we're really doing this aren't we?"

"We really are, and I can't wait. Hurry up and get here Ace!'


	26. Chapter Twenty Six

_October 2016_

A few short weeks later and Rory's life was packed up and ready to move across the Atlantic Ocean with her. As they'd agreed to keep her apartment in New York it had made things significantly easier when it came to deciding what to take with her, but she had still found the whole process incredibly emotional. That was something that wasn't helped in any way by her erratic pregnancy hormones. Even though she was one hundred per cent confident of her decision to move to London to be with Logan, saying goodbye to her friends and family had been so difficult and she'd had to try hard to hold it together as she hugged her mom at the airport.

Lorelai stood back and looked at Rory carefully. "Are you sure this is what you really want to do kid?"

"Mom…" Rory started. This was the last place she wanted to get into a debate with her mother.

"I'm serious Rory, I don't like this. I hate that you are going to be alone - thousands of miles away with my granddaughter…" she complained. "I'm really disliking Logan right about now."

"This wasn't Logan's decision, this was mine and we've been over this, mom, several times. It's where I need to be," Rory said firmly. "And, I'm not going to be alone, I have Logan."

"I know, I know, but it doesn't mean that I have to be happy about it, because I'm not, at all," Lorelai grumbled. "He had better look after you two, that's all I am saying."

"He will" Rory smiled.

Rory settled back and relaxed into the flight – this time when Logan had once again insisted on booking her into first class she let him as it meant that she could lay flat and get herself some much-needed rest. At seven months pregnant, it was definitely a more comfortable way to travel and as she rubbed her aching back, she was grateful that they had the means to pay for such luxuries. She drifted off to sleep and was eventually woken by one of the cabin crew who let her know that they needed to start preparing for landing.

When she arrived at Heathrow Airport it was just before 6 am. While she was waiting for the luggage to arrive she went to the bathroom to freshen up and looked at her tired reflection in the mirror as she splashed some water on her face. She inhaled deeply as she leaned against the basin. It had felt like such a long road to get here but finally, they were taking the first proper steps towards a life together and it felt momentous, it felt like it was completely right.

Rory stepped back outside and retrieved her suitcases from the conveyor belt – which was no mean feat for a heavily pregnant woman. She placed them on the trolley and wheeled them out to where she found Logan waiting for her in the arrivals hall. As soon as he saw her he rushed over to her and wrapped her up in his arms, squeezing her tight. He hadn't slept a wink as he'd been far too excited about her arrival.

"My girls are finally here!" he said with a smile.

"What on earth are you doing here Logan?" she smiled back. "I told you I'd get a cab, you must have been up all night."

"I was never letting you get a cab! Here let me take them," he said as he took the trolley from her. "How was the flight?" he asked her as they walked outside to where his driver was waiting for them.

"Fine, a lot comfier this time. I actually slept through most of it…" she admitted.

"You packed pretty light," Logan said as he put the suitcases into the back of the car.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't sure what clothes to bring as I'm not going to be in maternity wear forever and I've not even bought a single thing for the baby yet," she said thoughtfully. "Actually, maybe I need to get on with that!"

"We'll sort it all out now you're here" Logan laughed as he helped her into the car.

* * *

The driver whisked them back to Logan's house and after a reviving cup of coffee, they quickly got Rory settled in. Logan could tell that Rory felt a bit odd about putting her stuff away, it being very much his house that she was moving into but he had told her a million times that she wasn't to view it has his anymore, it was theirs. He had even rolled out the old trope of 'what's mine is yours…' which made her laugh. Rory knew that she would settle in eventually, it was just going to take some time to get used to.

After Logan had made sure Rory was completely comfortable, he headed into the office where he was somewhat surprised by the appearance of his father. He hadn't seen him since they had last lunched together and there were a few things that Logan thought he should probably fill him in on.

"Dad, this is a surprise…" Logan said as his father walked into his office. "I thought you were in the States at the moment"

"I was. Just flew in this morning" Mitchum said as he took a seat opposite Logan.

"Well that makes two of you then," Logan said as he sat back down.

"Two of us?" Mitchum raised an eyebrow.

"Rory also just flew in this morning," Logan said, "And I should probably tell you that she's moved in with me."

"Really?!" Mitchum said. "Interesting. What about her job at Conde Nast?"

"She's resigned, for now anyhow. She's going to take some time off with the baby when it arrives. It's a girl by the way" Logan said to his father.

"Congratulations Logan" Mitchum smiled.

"Thanks…anyway, we've decided to try and make a go of things properly and well, the divorce is off" Logan paused for a moment before he started speaking again. "I know, you'll have a million things to say about the lack of prenuptial agreement and what's going to happen there…but I really don't want to hear it right now, okay? We're happy."

Mitchum looked at his son. "Okay," he said resolutely.

"Okay?" Logan looked at his father incredulously.

"Sure. I think this is a good thing, for both of you. Granted, your mother might have a different opinion but that's her prerogative. Rory will be a good asset to the family." Mitchum picked up a glass of water and took a sip. "Now, I need to talk to you about the reason I am here…"

Logan looked at his father stunned. Mitchum had rarely been supportive of Logan's choices and here he was, almost appearing happy for him. It was a lot to take in and it also made him kind of suspicious about his motives.

"Why are you here?" Logan asked.

"There's going to be an event on Saturday night, it's for HPG and the stakeholders. It's a bit impromptu but a few decisions have been made recently and it's important. You'll need to be there of course, and bring Rory, as your wife it's going to affect her too." Mitchum said as he put his glass back down.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to tell me what it's all about?" he said shaking his head at his father.

"Things are still being ironed out…" Mitchum said as he stood up. "It's black tie so make an effort, treat Rory to a new dress…oh and by the way, just a word of warning, your mother will be there," he said as he walked out of the room.

* * *

"And you have no idea what it's about?" Rory asked Logan as she sat opposite him at dinner.

Logan had called Rory and told her he was sending a car so he could take her out for dinner to celebrate their first proper night living together in London and now he had just dropped his father's visit on her.

"Well, you know my dad, information is given on a need to know basis, and clearly, right now? I don't need to know…" Logan rolled his eyes.

"And I really have to come with you?" Rory grimaced.

Logan sighed "Unfortunately, he's expecting you to show but hey if it totally sucks we'll do what we have to do and I'll get you out of there as soon as possible, I promise. I do have to warn you though, my mom is going to be there."

"Oh great!" Rory said as she shook her head. "And I can't even get drunk to get myself through it."

"Sorry Ace" Logan smiled "But I've been instructed by my father that I should buy you a new dress" he rolled his eyes.

"So very thoughtful of him" Rory laughed.

"Indeed. So thoughtful in fact, that he's going to be paying for it, so go all out Ace! I'll give you the company AMEX" he winked.

They spent the rest of the evening talking about anything and everything, just really enjoying being back in each other's company. When they finished their meal they walked outside into the unseasonably warm evening to meet their driver. As they waited for the limo to arrive Logan held Rory against him and pressed his lips to hers. He ran his hand down her back and when they landed on her ass, he gave it a gentle squeeze and she giggled and moaned into his mouth. They kissed each other passionately, right there in the middle of a busy London street like they were the only two people that existed in the world. As their car pulled up alongside them they finally had to pull away, both a little short of breath. Logan looked into Rory's eyes and pulled her by the hand.

"C'mon, we need to get out of here. All I can think about right now is getting you out of that dress and into your pants" he smirked as they stepped into the car.

"Is that so?' Rory looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he slid across the seat next to her. "And who said I was wearing any?" she said suggestively.

Logan groaned as he shut the limo door and the car pulled away. He slid closer to her and she put her hand on his thigh. He could already feel himself starting to get hard as he pulled her closer to him and kissed her again. He moaned slightly as she ran her hand up his thigh and brushed against him feeling his arousal.

After only a few moments they were all over each other; touching and kissing with reckless abandon in the back of the limo. Logan began to draw soft sighs from Rory as he started to kiss and caress her neck and his hand disappeared under her skirt to discover that she wasn't bluffing.

She pulled away from him breathlessly "How private is that privacy screen"

"Very" he whispered as he continued to nuzzle against her neck and pushed her head against the seat. "I can't wait to make you come" he whispered as he breathed into her ear.

Rory closed her eyes as Logan moved his hand between her legs. She knew that they absolutely shouldn't be doing that there, in the back of a car, but at that moment she just didn't care, it felt too good. She pushed against his hand and his fingers explored her heat while his tongue explored her mouth. As he pushed a finger inside her she let out a moan, the pleasure just too great to contain. The sound of Rory's pleasure only made Logan more determined in his ministrations. He added a second finger and she threw her head back. As her breath started to come out in short labored gasps, he knew that she was pretty close.

"Oh god Logan, I'm going to come" she whispered as he continued to thrust his fingers in and out of her while gently caressing her clit with his thumb. Rory bit her lip hard, her orgasm building up inside of her until finally, it rushed through her wave after wave. She had to pull Logan and kiss him fervently on the lips to muffle the sounds that she couldn't stop from escaping her.

A few minutes later and they arrived back home. Logan got out and helped Rory out of the car before they sped into the house where the real fun was just about to begin. They had barely even shut the door when he grabbed her and pushed her up against it as he kissed her deeply. Logan began loosening Rory's dress and she was unbuttoning his shirt and undoing his pants.

They didn't make it anywhere near the bedroom before he was in her. In fact, they didn't even make it out of the entrance hall. They kissed passionately, their bodies constantly touching as if they couldn't bear to not be connected for more than a moment. Logan turned her around to face the wall and Rory placed her palms against the wall as he pushed up her dress and slowly entered her from behind. She leaned her head back against him as he began kissing her neck once more, one hand anchoring himself on the wall the other resting on her hip pulling her closer to him as he rhythmically thrust into her.

As Rory rocked her hips against him, each stroke was pure pleasure for Logan and he knew that this wasn't going to last long. He reached his hand around to move his fingers in tiny circles around her clit. Her legs started trembling and she closed her eyes as the familiar euphoric feeling started to sweep through her body.

"Logan!" she cried out as he grabbed a fistful of her hair and started to thrust harder into her while continuing to move his fingers against her. She wanted him so bad. She desperately needed more of him. Her mouth fell open as she gave into it and she came hard.

"Damn, you're unbelievable," Logan said as he pulled her back onto him and continued to thrust for a moment more, his breath hot against her skin, before she felt him quiver and he spilled into her fast.

They breathed together for a moment before he withdrew from her and she straightened up her dress.

"I can't believe we didn't even make it to the bedroom," she said with a smile as she turned around to face him.

"That was fucking hot," he said smiling warmly back at her as he pulled her in and kissed her once again.


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven

It would be fair to say that Rory wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of an evening standing on ceremony for the Huntzbergers, especially in her pregnant state. She felt somewhat conspicuous and a little on show, however, she knew that she had to do her duty as Logan's wife and be at his side. She had left it a little until the last minute to find something to wear but then, the event had been very short notice and she hadn't really expected to be having to squeeze her baby bump into a black tie appropriate dress anytime soon. Rory took Logan's advice and armed with the HPG AMEX card she headed out into the city to find a suitable evening dress to wear to the event.

Fortunately, by the third store, she had found something perfect which was really quite lucky as she was already dead on her feet and wanted nothing more than to sit down with a hot cup of coffee, even if it did have to be decaf. At first, she had been a little uncomfortable about spending money that wasn't really hers but then she remembered about all the ways in which Mitchum had screwed things up for her in the past and suddenly she found no problem with ringing up the expensive dress on her new father-in-law's account.

After shopping, she headed back in a cab to the house. Rory wanted to make sure she had plenty of time to get ready – she definitely wanted to look her best if she was going to have to face Shira for the first time. Logan waited downstairs for Rory while she got herself ready. As he sat idly flicking through a magazine, he mused to himself just how lucky men were when it came to getting ready. He'd literally came home, showered and thrown on a tux and he was pretty much ready to go. When he heard Rory coming down the stairs he stood up as she walked into the room.

"Wow," Logan said as he looked up at her.

"Do I look okay?" Rory said nervously as she fiddled with her dress.

"You look more than okay Ace, you look incredible!" he smiled at her.

Logan was completely blown away with how she looked. Rory's midnight blue silk dress draped beautifully over her curves and cascaded to the floor. It had a sweetheart bodice and it's intricate lace back had a chic keyhole which was just enough for a sexy flash of skin. She hair was in a half-up half-down style with soft curls falling down, just exposing her neck – a neck which right now all Logan could think about was kissing.

"Are you sure? Because I feel frumpy" Rory grimaced as she stepped into her shoes.

She knew that by the end of the night she would regret squeezing her feet into her 6 inch glittery Christian Louboutin heels but they had been a present from her mom the previous year and she was damned if she was not going to get some use out of them on what was the perfect occasion to give them an airing.

"You look anything but frumpy, believe me," Logan smirked "and if we don't get out of her I'm not going to be able to stop myself from showing you just how far from frumpy you look," he said as he put his arms around her and kissed her softly. "Come on, let's get this over and done with…" he said as he took her by the hand and started to lead her outside where their driver was waiting for them.

"Wait, stop for a moment," Rory said as she pulled him back.

Logan turned around to look at her. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes. Well no, nothing is the matter but I want to give you something before we go" she said a little apprehensively.

"Oh?" Logan said intrigued. He could sense that she was nervous.

"Yeah…here…" she said as she held out a box to him. "This is for you."

Logan took the box out of her hand and opened it. He looked up at her and smiled a big smile at her. Inside was a platinum wedding band with a double milgrain detailing going all the way around. Rory carefully took the ring out of the box and slid it onto his finger.

"If we're doing this, we're doing it properly and I want everyone to know that you are mine," she said as she kissed him.

"I couldn't agree more," he said as he returned the kiss. "I love it, thank you," he said with a smile.

And it was the absolute truth. Logan loved that Rory had done that for him, he loved that she had been out and chosen a wedding band for him to wear. Things had been so rocky over the past year between them but they'd really cemented their relationship over the past few months and this was another sign that everything was going to be okay.

"Right, we really ought to get out of here now…" he winked. "Ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" she sighed as they headed out to get into the car.

* * *

A short while later they arrived at the event, which was being held in a super upmarket hotel in the center of London. The place was full - when someone like Mitchum Huntzberger hosted an event, you turned up, however short the notice was. The whole place was buzzing; the excitement was tangible in the air.

"You really don't know what this is about?" Rory asked Logan as they walked into the glittering ballroom. "I mean, this is some party…" she said as she glanced around.

He looked at her and shrugged "You know my father Ace, it could be anything…or it could be nothing. Either way, we'll found out soon enough. Come on, we had better go mingle…" he said taking hold of her hand.

Logan wanted to make sure he kept Rory close by his side tonight as much as possible. He knew that she was still adjusting to her new life in London and that was such a massive life change and along with being pregnant too. It meant he was mindful that she might be feeling more vulnerable and things had been going so well recently, he didn't want any upset, especially from anything his family could throw at her.

The couple made the obligatory rounds, accepting the polite congratulations from various work associates, as Logan introduced Rory as his wife. He smiled as she more than held her own in conversations with his colleagues – not just down to her sparkling wit and charisma but of course, due to her extensive industry experience. It wasn't too long before he spied his parents on the other side of the room. Clearly, this was not a night when they were going to be easily avoided so he decided it was better to just get it over and done with. He took Rory by the hand to say hello to his parents.

"Why do I feel like I am a dead woman walking" she grumbled as she walked hand-in-hand with Logan to where the Huntzbergers were standing with Honor and Josh.

"Logan" Mitchum boomed "I didn't know you'd arrived. Rory, it's good to see you again" he said with a smile.

"Thanks, you too Mr. Huntzberger" she forced a smile.

"You can call me Mitchum," he said.

Rory nodded and smiled in acknowledgment while an awkward silence fell over the group for a moment. Honor couldn't take it anymore and decided to jump in and break it up.

"So! Rory, I haven't seen you in such a long time" Honor said "You look really well. Congratulations by the way. Logan tells me you're having a girl?"

Rory smiled at Honor, she'd always liked Logan's sister. "Yeah, that's right…we found out a little while ago."

Logan smiled and put one arm around Rory and the other lightly on her bump. "I have a feeling I'm going to be in trouble with two girls to wrap me around their little fingers. It's bad enough with this one" he said as he squeezed Rory to him.

"Awww it's so sweet, you guys are going to make such great parents" Honor gushed "Have you thought of any names yet?"

"Ah no, not yet" Rory smiled.

"Still plenty of time I guess." Honor nudged her mom discretely, urging her to join in. "Doesn't Rory look great mom? I just looked like a beached whale the whole time when I was pregnant with Jacob" she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, yes, Rory, you look…lovely" Shira said in what could have only be described as a non-committal tone.

Logan shot a look across at his mother. It was no secret in the family that she was less impressed by the turn of events and it didn't look like she was going to try and hide her feelings at all that evening.

Shira sent Logan a withering look but she fixed on her best society smile. "It really is a fabulous dress Rory, they do make some lovely maternity gowns these days".

"I agree. It's gorgeous, that color really suits you, brings out your eyes perfectly." Honor smiled.

"Thanks" Rory smiled politely.

"So Logan tells me that you've moved to London?" Mitchum asked.

"Erm, yes, just this week actually," Rory said.

"That's quite a big move. What do you family think about that?"

"Oh, well, they're supportive. I mean, they're a little disappointed that I'll be having the baby here but it is what it is" she looked at Logan who smiled at her reassuringly. 'I want to be where Logan is" she smiled.

Mitchum nodded. "I guess that's understandable," he said.

He had been pretty surprised to hear from Logan that Rory had moved to London from New York. He'd been fully prepared for Logan to talk to him about moving back to the States and of course, if that's what he had really needed to do then he would have supported him, but he had been quietly impressed that Rory had made the decision to be the one that made the sacrifices in order to be with Logan. It spoke volumes to him in terms of her unwavering commitment to his son and had given him some food for thought.

"It's good that you are here Rory. Logan, there's someone over there I need to introduce you to…" Mitchum said. "Do you mind?" he asked.

"Ace, will you be okay for a minute…" Logan looked at Rory hesitantly, not really wanting to abandon her with his mother when she was in the mood that she was.

"It's fine" she smiled, meeting his eye to reassure him. Rory would have preferred to be anywhere else than stood making awkward small talk with Shira Huntzberger but she wasn't afraid of her.

"Okay, I won't be long" he promised as he leaned in to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek.

For the next five minutes, Rory pushed through what could only be described as an uncomfortable conversation with Honor and Shira before she excused herself to go to the bar for some refreshments. Glad to have finally escaped Shira's veiled digs and barbed comments, she leaned against the bar with her Club Soda in her hand.

"Mrs. Huntzberger" she heard a voice call out as she felt a tap on the shoulder.

Rory spun around on the spot and then relaxed when she saw who was behind her.

"I will forever look over my shoulder and think Shira Huntzberger is standing behind me.." Rory joked. "Colin! It's so good to see you" she said as she hugged him.

"There's still no love lost between you and the monster-in-law then I take it?" Colin smiled. "It has to be said, you're looking mighty fine Rory," he said as he looked her up and down.

"Thanks, but I feel anything but fine let me tell you. Oh, Colin, I'm so glad that you're here. Logan has been dragged off somewhere by Mitchum. It's just so nice to see a friendly face! You know, not one that thinks I am about to run off with the family silver in my clutch bag" she rolled her eyes.

Rory stood and spoke to Colin for a little while before she needed to excuse herself to go to the ladies room. After she had freshened up she sat down on a seat outside the ballroom to take a breather for a moment. Standing on her feet all night so far had started to take its toll. She was still sitting on the bench when Logan wandered out of the ballroom to check that she was okay.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked her with some concern in his voice. "I was looking for you everywhere."

She looked up at him and smiled. "Oh yeah, I'm just a little tired, it's warm in there and my feet feel like they're starting to swell…"

"Do you want us to leave? I can call the driver to come and get us…" Logan said as pulled out his cell phone.

Rory shook her head. "No, no. You've got this whole party thing going on and god knows what announcement to come from your dad. You should be here. I'll be fine, you go in and I'll be through in a just minute."

Logan hesitated. "Are you sure?"

He wasn't sure about leaving her sitting out there, he could see that something was on her mind but he could also sense that whatever it was that was bothering her, she didn't want to talk about it.

"Absolutely," she said as she smiled up at him.


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight

After Logan walked back into the ballroom, Rory sat on the seat for a few more minutes. The truth was that she was feeling slightly overwhelmed about her situation but she really didn't want him to know that. She was more than happy with the decisions that she had made and she loved Logan more than anything in the world, but it was hard to get her head around that fact that she was now going to be part of the whole Huntzberger dynasty.

Whether Rory liked it or not, this was going to be her life – parties and soirees, making polite conversations with associates and peers, socializing with her in-laws…and while it wasn't all bad, it was a lot for her to absorb and accept. Even more so as her new mother-in-law had spent most of the night either being sickly sweet to her or glaring at her across the room.

It was a life that she had been comfortable slipping into now and again when they'd been at college but now it was her day-to-day reality and she couldn't help but wonder just what the expectations of her were going to be.

When Rory heard Mitchum being announced onto the stage, she figured that she had better get herself back into the ballroom. She stood up and smoothed down her dress before she slowly walked back in to see Mitchum standing on the podium with Logan stood to his side. She walked across the room and took her place next to Colin who was loitering near the back. They exchanged pensive glances as Mitchum started talking.

Taking the microphone in his hand Mitchum addressed the room and started to talk about his career at HPG and how he was immensely proud of what he had achieved over the years - in both his professional and personal life. He explained how much HPG had achieved in that time but moved on to talk a little about how the advancement of digital technologies in recent years had pushed them into a new era with them facing a whole host of new challenges.

"…with that in mind, I have decided that now is the time for someone new to lead HPG into the future and I want to make my intentions clear to everyone tonight that I am going to be handing over the reins to my son Logan who will become the new CEO of HPG with immediate effect" Mitchum said as he turned to Logan.

Rory audibly gasped and put her hand over her mouth. She felt completely conflicted by Mitchum's announcement. It was hard for her to put a finger on the exact emotions that she was going through but it was a mixture of concern about the extra pressure that this new role would pile on Logan and their family, but then, along with that, there was also a huge sense of pride. Undoubtedly Logan had worked hard over the years to prove to his father that he was responsible and capable – all he had ever wanted was recognition from Mitchum, and Rory knew that it was absolutely true – Logan was more than ready to take on the challenge of such a position.

Next, to his father, Logan looked a little stunned. Of course, it had never been a secret that this would be on the cards at some point but he just hadn't seen it coming right now. There had been no hint from this father that this was even a possibility and he couldn't help but think that some warning might have been nice, but he knew his father always wanted to make the biggest impact possible and now he understood why his dad had said it would affect Rory too.

Colin leaned over and whispered discretely in Rory's ear. "Did you know about any of this?"

Rory looked at him and shook her head "No! Neither of us did!"

As the room settled back down, Mitchum continued to speak.

"Logan is my only son and while he has, of course, made mistakes like we all have, I've proudly watched him grow over the years and he has turned into this amazing leader. That's why I can say with the utmost confidence that I know HPG is going to be in a safe pair of hands. Not only this, but I know that he's got a strong support system behind him. Where is Rory?" he asked as he scanned the room for his daughter-in-law.

Rory squeaked as she heard her name being called out.

Colin nudged her. "You're up!"

She looked at him and pulled a face.

"Ah Rory there you are, come over here for a moment" Mitchum called to her.

Rory fixed on a smile as people turned to look at her and she carefully made her way over to where Logan was standing with his father, passing a scowling Shira on the way. She silently willed herself not to trip over – once again cursing her decision to wear ridiculously high heels. When she reached the front, Logan grabbed hold of her hand reassuringly.

Mitchum nodded at them both. "Logan and his new wife Rory are both experienced in the industry. Rory has just moved to London from New York, where she's been working as a journalist with Conde Nast but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to steal her away one day" he laughed. Rory raised an eyebrow at Logan. "In the meantime however, as you can see, she's busy bolstering the ranks and the newest Huntzberger will be arriving in town in December, so I'd like you to ask you all to join me in a toast to mark Logan's new tenure as CEO of HPG and also to congratulate him on his growing family….to Logan and Rory Huntzberger and to the next phase of HPG" Mitchum said as he held his glass aloft.

* * *

After the toast, Rory quietly told Logan she was going to sit back down while he spoke to his father. She looked around the room feeling slightly out of place not really knowing where she fit in amongst all these people, the majority of whom she had never seen before in her life. She eventually spotted a table in the corner of the room and went and sat herself down at it, absentmindedly fiddling with the bits of silver table confetti that had been scattered around.

"That was a bit of a curveball huh?"

Rory broke out of her thoughts and looked up to see Honor standing next to her. "May I?" Honor gestured at the seat next to her.

"Of course, it's not like I'm expecting friends…I don't know anybody here other than Colin…" Rory shrugged.

"You know, these things DO get easier" Honor smiled sympathetically. "I promise."

"I hope so, I have a feeling I'm going to be a seeing a few more events like this," Rory said as she bit her lip.

Honor looked at her carefully. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just been a strange night," Rory said as she looked over to where Logan was stood in deep conversation with his father.

Honor followed Rory's eye. "He's totally ready for this you know."

"Yeah, I think he is too" Rory admitted. "It's just…this is big".

"Go big or go home tends to be a family motto in the Huntzberger house" Honor winked.

"Why am I not surprised" Rory laughed. She rubbed her hand over her tummy as she felt her baby wriggling around inside.

"Can I…?" Honor asked.

"Sure" Rory smiled as Honor placed her hand gently on her bump.

"It's a life changing thing isn't it?" Honor said. "It totally turned my world upside down, you'll never feel the same again, about anything."

"You can say that again. My life seems to have done a complete 180 in the past year. I can barely remember what it was like before…" Rory trailed off.

Honor looked at Rory. She was fully aware that not wanting to be caught up being part of this world was one of the reasons Rory had chosen not to marry Logan in the first place.

"Embrace it, Rory. I know what some people think about my family but honestly, being a Huntzberger isn't as bad as you may think, in fact, it comes with quite a few perks" she smiled "And my brother worships the ground you walk on, anybody can see that…It's made such the difference to have you back in his life."

Rory looked back over at Logan who looked up at the same time and caught her eye. He felt a pang of something as he looked at her sitting at the table with Honor and he wasn't sure what it was. Concern? Uncertainty? Apprehension? He didn't know, all he knew was that he had seen something in her eyes that unsettled him.

* * *

After several rounds of congratulations, Logan and Rory were finally able to make their excuses and leave the party and not before time, Rory was definitely flagging. They sat together in the back of the limo trying to digest everything that had happened that evening.

"Did you know that something like that was going to happen tonight?" Rory asked Logan.

"Not a clue" he shrugged.

Logan had been as blindsided as anyone by his father's announcement. Obviously, he'd been prepared for this moment to come but he'd always thought it would arrive after some long weighty discussions and a million provisos. It certainly wouldn't be something that would be sprung on him all of a sudden – or so he thought. But the truth was, regardless of how the news came about, underneath everything he was really quite excited about the opportunity. He'd grown to love his work and the company, and the thought of being at the helm and not actually having to answer to his father anymore – well that felt pretty great.

"He never mentioned it at all?" Rory asked incredulously.

Logan looked at her. "Well, you know, it's always been implied but we've not talked about it recently."

He wondered if she was suggesting that he had been hiding something from her but he decided not to push it. He had quickly learned not to accuse a pregnant woman of being irrational.

Rory nodded. It had always been Logan's destiny to run HPG, she'd known that from the very start. "And you're okay with it all? It's what you want?"

Logan pushed his hand through his hair. "I guess so, I mean, it was always on the cards…I knew this would happen at some point and I'd be lying if I said it didn't excite me in any way."

"Yeah, I guess," she said thoughtfully as she looked out of the car window.

"Hey," Logan said. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," she said without looking at him, continuing to stare out of the window as the limo drove through the busy London streets.

"Rory," Logan said.

She turned to face him. "Okay. It's just…I can't help but wonder what impact this is going to have on our lives. I mean, how busy are you going to be? Are you going to have to travel more? Are you still going to be based here…or"

Logan sighed. "I don't have all those answers right now but yes, I guess, I'll be a bit busier and there'll be some more travel involved but you can come with me can't you. I mean, it's not like you're…"

"…going to be doing anything else?" Rory interrupted him with a slightly stunned look.

"Oh come on, I never said that," Logan said as he held his hands up in defence.

"But you were going to," she said as she shook her head at him.

Logan looked at her in frustration "Well it's the truth, isn't it? You're not working right now, you'd be okay to travel. And don't turn this round on me - it was your choice to give up work Rory, I never told you to do that."

Rory knew he was right. He had never once asked her to give up work. On the contrary, he had been surprised when she had said that was what she wanted to do so she hated herself for throwing that in his face now.

"I'm sorry. I know" she said as she looked down at her hands.

"Look it will all be okay, this is not a bad thing. I'll have a lot more control over my own destiny for starters. That's a good thing right?" he said as he took her hand in his.

Rory took a deep breath and decided it was probably best to just get out what was bothering her. "I don't want to turn into your mom Logan," she said quietly.

"What?! You are SO far from being my mom" he said. The thought that she might compare himself with his mother who had led nothing but a vacuous life while she had been married to his father hadn't even crossed his mind.

"But you're going to be the CEO and I'm going to be at home looking after the baby and entertaining your colleagues, and waiting around for you to come home…" Rory rambled.

"That's not what I expect of you at all!" Logan exclaimed.

"That's what your family is going to expect of me," she said with a pout.

"That's their prerogative" he shrugged "That doesn't have to be your life Ace, you can do whatever you want. You can BE whatever you want. You know I'm not going to stand in the way of that."

"Yeah, I know," Rory said. And she really did know that. Logan had never given her any reason to think otherwise.

"I mean it. I will make this work; I'm not my father. I don't live for work. Do I enjoy it? Sure, but it's just a part of my life. Plus, this is why you have people working for you Ace, to delegate. I promise everything will be okay" he said as he squeezed her hand and smiled at her. "Do you trust me?"

"You jump I jump Jack" she smiled back.

* * *

 **A/N: As I was begged...a Two-Chapter FriYAY for you but the bad news is no more updates until Monday. Boohoo!**


	29. Chapter Twenty Nine

_**November 2016** _

After the initial shock of Mitchum's surprise announcement and the news that he was handing the reins over to Logan had finally sunk in, things generally settled down a little bit. Logan started getting comfortable in his new role and even Rory had to admit that so far everything was good. There had been no real apparent impact on their lives - as yet - but they were still both acutely aware that some level of disruption would probably come in the future; however, for now, Rory's fears seemed to have been alleviated.

When it came down to it, Logan was actually relishing the opportunity that had been handed to him by his father. If he was going, to be honest, it probably hadn't come at the best time for them given that Rory had just moved to London and their baby would soon be here but it was what it was and he was seizing the chance he had been given with both hands. He was excited about what the future could hold and on the back of that, he had even carefully started to lay down a few tracks about Rory joining him at HPG in the future, envisaging her taking on a significant role.

"So, let me get this straight" Rory said as she sat with Logan at the breakfast bar in the kitchen "You are saying you want ME to act as chief operating officer at HPG?" she said incredulously.

"That's about the crux of it, yes. What are your thoughts?" Logan said as he sipped his coffee.

"Well…I don't really know" she said honestly.

Rory was a little surprised by the conversation. She had never even entertained the thought of working alongside Logan. She loved working as a journalist - it hadn't always been easy and she'd found the traveling less desirable than she would have hoped but she'd never really considered taking on another role in the industry. Of course, that's not to say that she wouldn't, just that it hadn't really been something that had cropped up until now and it wasn't something she was wanting to make a rash decision on.

"What would I do?" she asked.

"Well, the COO is generally responsible for managing the day-to-day ops and ultimately reports to the CEO, which in this case is yours truly," Logan smirked. "There's a gap that I want to fill in the company structure and I need someone I can trust."

"But there are surely a lot of people more qualified than me though?" Rory said. "I don't have even have a business background for starters…"

"Sure there is, but just think how strong we could be together – we could be an awesome team," Logan said as he reached his hand across to hold hers. "We can work alongside each other, share the workload and it would definitely help us both to have a better work/life balance…"

Rory pursed her lips. He wasn't entirely wrong and somehow it was a pretty tempting idea. "Can I think about it for a bit?" she asked carefully.

"Of course you can" Logan nodded "We don't have to make any decisions in the near future, I just wanted to get it out there as an idea, so you could start making your pro/con list" he winked.

"Okay," Rory said with a smile.

* * *

By now Rory was just over eight months pregnant and if she was to put it quite bluntly, she was feeling very much on the wrong side of big and yucky. She hated what she looked like, she hated the energy it was taking to drag herself around and she was practically counting down the days to when she'd be back to her usual self. It was making her grumpy and she knew that she had been unfairly taking it out on Logan – who to his credit, took it all in good grace. Her mood wasn't at all helped by the fact that she was feeling slightly isolated while Logan was at work – she had nobody else in London and while she knew that was all her own doing and completely her decision, it was still bringing her down a little. As she got towards the end of her pregnancy and she stayed home more, she felt like she was doing little more than waiting around for Logan to come home from work.

Logan was not unaware of how Rory was feeling. He had noticed that she had become so much more oversensitive recently – walking on eggshells was become a regular occurrence - and he knew that she wasn't feeling great about herself in any way, shape or form. He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to make her feel a bit special so to try and buck her up he had arranged a nice treat for her.

Rory was lying back on the sofa watching daytime TV when she heard the front door open. She sat up suddenly surprised to see that Logan was home in the middle of the afternoon.

"Hey, what are you doing home at this time?" she said as she looked over to where he was standing by the door.

"I have a surprise for you," he said with a smile.

"Oh yeah?" she said. "I'm intrigued…"

"Hey, Loinfruit!" Lorelai called out as she walked into the living room.

"Mom's here?" she squealed at Logan as she pushed herself up from the sofa.

"She sure is! Whoa kiddo! What on earth are you hiding up that sweater?" Lorelai said as took in her daughter, who was even bigger than the last time she had seen her.

"Oh stop it," Rory said as she self-consciously covered up her bump with her arms.

"I'm kidding, relax. Sheesh, Logan, I see what you were getting at…" Lorelai rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Rory pouted at her.

Logan looked at Lorelai. "Why don't I leave you girls to talk for a moment? How about I make us all some coffee?" he said as he made a hasty retreat towards the kitchen.

"Did I ever tell you what good man your husband is?" Lorelai said with a wink as they sat down on the sofa.

"So what are you even doing here?" Rory asked. "And why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"Well, your lovely husband called me a few days ago. He's been a little worried about you and told me that you've been feeling a bit down recently" Lorelai looked at Rory sympathetically. "And for some unknown reason, he thought that perhaps I'd be the perfect antidote to that. I tried to tell him that I wasn't sure I'd be much use but hey, it was a free trip to England so who I am to argue…" she shrugged with a smile.

"God. He really said that to you?" Rory grimaced.

"Oh, he meant well hun," Lorelai said as she put her arm around her daughter.

"I know, but I really don't want him to think that I am that sad about anything because I'm really not, I love being here with him, it's just that well, I don't know how to tell him that…"

Rory paused whatever it was she was about to say as Logan came back into the room with three steaming hot cups of coffee. "Thanks" she smiled up at him as she took one of the cups out of his hand.

"We'll talk later" Lorelai whispered in her ear.

* * *

The next day Lorelai and Rory headed out for a bit of pampering that Logan had organized for them at a spa in the heart of nearby Primrose Hill. The Cowshed spa was an inviting haven of relaxation and best of all; it had a whole menu of treatments suitable for pregnancy. Logan had been very pleased with himself when he discovered it.

"I swear, I'll admit that I had my doubts about that guy," Lorelai said, "But I know believe that Logan is an actual god," she said as they both enjoyed an indulgent pedicure, followed by a deeply relaxing leg and foot massage.

"So come on, what gives Rory?" Lorelai turned to her daughter, keen to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her.

"What?" Rory said.

"You were about to spill yesterday before Logan walked in. What's going on? I thought you were happy?" Lorelai asked.

"I am happy" Rory smiled and nodded.

"But…Is it the work thing…?" Lorelai asked carefully.

"Oh, no that's fine. Actually, I might have been overreacting a bit, it's working out better than I imagined, so far anyway" Rory raised an eyebrow. "Logan has asked me to come work with him at HPG though."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow. "Really? In what capacity?"

"He wants me to take on some sort of leadership role alongside him, but I don't know…I'm not too sure how I feel about that really. What do you think?" Rory said nervously.

Lorelai paused for a moment. "I've got to say, Rory, I don't hate the sound of it" she admitted. "I mean, you're both in the industry and you could be a real power couple you know, a force to reckoned with."

"Maybe," Rory said thoughtfully. She still had a lot to think about before she made any definite decisions.

"Is that what was bothering you?" Lorelai asked. She was unconvinced that this was about work.

Rory wrinkled her nose. "No…but…no offense, I just don't think I can talk to you about this…"

"Rory, you know you can talk to me about anything," Lorelai said.

"Okay, well don't get too grossed out…it's just…well, I really hate the way I look right now and I'm worried that Logan doesn't find me attractive anymore" Rory said quietly.

"What? That's crazy. Has he said or done anything that made you feel that way? Because if he has I'll have a few choice words for him…" Lorelai said.

"No, of course, he hasn't, not really but it just we've always had a lot of sex…" Rory said.

"Oh. Eww." Lorelai pulled a face at her daughter.

"I warned you" Rory shrugged before she continued talking "And recently, it's not been as much and I feel like I am the one always instigating it these days."

"Rory, there could be so many reasons for that…I mean he's busier at work, right? Or maybe he doesn't want to put any pressure on you? I mean, you are about to have a baby" Lorelai reasoned.

"I know. I'm sure you are right. I just feel pretty rubbish at the moment and I hate to think that he thinks I'm just this big, bloated pregnant mess. He probably wonders what he let himself in for" Rory sighed.

"That's crazy talk, that boy is super hot for you" Lorelai smiled.

"Maybe I'm just being a bit oversensitive," Rory said. "Forget it," she said as she shook her head.

Lorelai and Rory enjoyed the rest of their day at the spa – making the most of the relaxing massages and facials – before they headed back home. Lorelai was staying in a nearby hotel but decided to make sure that Rory got back okay first.

When they got home Rory excused herself to the bathroom, which gave Lorelai the perfect opportunity to talk to Logan. She made sure that Rory was firmly out of earshot before she pulled Logan over.

"Now listen carefully, because I am not repeating this. God knows the last thing I want to tell you to do is to have sex with my daughter…" Lorelai shuddered.

"I'm sorry?" Logan looked at Lorelai surprised.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "This thing with Rory…well she opened up a bit when we were out today and the long and short of it is that she thinks you don't find her attractive anymore."

"What? That's crazy!" Logan said as he shook his head.

"That's exactly what I said!" Lorelai exclaimed "But you know Rory…anyhow you didn't hear anything from me, okay, and that's all I am saying."

Logan nodded at Lorelai just as Rory walked back into the room.

"What are you up to?" she eyed them both suspiciously.

"Nothing," Lorelai said, "Right, I am going to head back to my hotel for an afternoon nap" she yawned. "This jet lag is still really getting to me."

"Are you sure? You don't want to stay for dinner?" Rory asked her mom.

"Actually, we've got plans tonight" Logan interjected giving Lorelai a knowing look.

"Oh?" Rory said. "What are we doing?"

"It's a surprise" Logan smiled.

"Another one? I want to know what it is…" Rory said as she stuck out her bottom lip.

Logan laughed. "It's a surprise Ace! I'm not telling!"

"Okay, okay" she smiled.

"Hey, have fun you guys and don't do anything I wouldn't do…" Lorelai joked "Or better still, don't do anything I would!" she winked.

* * *

 **A/N: Eek sorry for the delay in updating. I hadn't got much chance to write and I have to warn you it could be a few days before I update again as I've got nothing done past this!**

 **Also, just wanted to say, I'm thinking of anyone affected by Hurricane Irma. I am devastated about what has happened in the Florida Keys and also just catching up on Everglades City. Was in both a few months ago and feel so sad.**


	30. Chapter Thirty

After Lorelai had left to go back to the hotel, Rory decided to go and take a shower before getting herself ready to go out. She wasn't entirely sure what Logan had planned for the evening but she knew that wherever they were going she wanted to feel her best. It was hard at eight months pregnant, everything she wore made her feel lumpy and frumpy but Logan had taken her shopping and she had a few outfits on hand that made her feel at least a little bit more like her normal self. She had been nervous recently about the impact of the pregnancy on her relationship with Logan and while it certainly wasn't the worst thing in the world, but as she let the warm water cascade over her Rory couldn't help but look forward to the fact that she was nearing the end – even if that was when the real work was going to start.

Logan sat back on the couch in the living room to think about what it was that Lorelai had said to him. It wasn't the easiest or most comfortable of conversations for either of them to discuss but while it was incredibly awkward, he was extremely grateful that Lorelai had brought it up. In his mind, everything was just perfect so he was completely surprised and incredulous that Rory would have even had the tiniest thought in her head about him not finding her as attractive anymore. The truth was that Logan still felt like he was the luckiest man in the world. Every day when he woke up he thanked his lucky stars that this incredible woman had come back into his life. He was over the moon that he and Rory had managed to find their way back to each other, there was a time that it had seemed impossible, and now they finally had this real shot of being happy together. Life was good, although it was certainly undeniable that things had been a little crazy over the past few weeks, and maybe there was some truth in it - they probably hadn't made as much time for each other as they usually would have but this was in no way reflective of how Logan felt about Rory, and he now knew that this was something that he needed to demonstrate to her in whatever way he could.

"Hey," Logan said as he walked into their bedroom. Rory was standing up towel-drying her hair having just stepped out of the shower and even dripping wet, without any make-up on, he still thought she was the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the planet.

Rory looked up and smiled at Logan when she saw him standing by the door. "Hi," she said as she continued to dry her hair, rubbing gently at it with the towel.

"So, how was your day with your mom?" Logan asked.

"Oh. It was really good, I feel a lot more relaxed" Rory said. Spending time with Lorelai, just relaxing and talking over her concerns had done the world of good for her. While she was happy with the choices she'd made, moving to England had been hard and not being able to see or talk to her mom as much as she was used to was harder still, so it had meant the world to her that Logan had arranged all of this for her.

"Thank you, it really was just what I needed," Rory said with a shy smile as Logan walked over to her and kissed her gently on the top of her head.

"That's good, I wanted to treat you, but tell me… just exactly how relaxed are you right now…" Logan said with a cheeky smirk as he slowly slipped his hands underneath her towel and gently slid them around her waist before he rested them on her ass.

"Logan!" Rory squeaked at the surprise contact.

"Come on Ace, you've never been shy before…" he teased as he nuzzled gently into her neck.

"That was different…I'm all fat now…" she pouted as she pushed Logan away from her slightly but he wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Rory. You are not fat, you're pregnant, and you're also completely gorgeous in every way" he said as he gently pushed her back so that before she knew what was happening, she was lying down on their bed. Logan slowly peeled away her damp towel despite Rory's feeble attempt at protesting. It really didn't matter how self-conscious she was feeling about herself, Logan still had the power to make her knees go weak and she had never been able to hold out on him for very long and nothing had changed. She was helpless when she was in his arms.

Logan looked down at the naked woman that now lay in front of him. He still had to pinch himself some days when he remembered that this was his wife. Sure, it didn't come about in the most ideal of circumstances but they were married, they were going to make this work and this was it for him. Rory was a stunningly beautiful woman, there was absolutely no doubt about that, and whatever she might think about herself, in his mind, he thought she had only gotten more beautiful while she was pregnant. Her body was soft and curvaceous and she glowed like he had never seen her glow before and the most important thing of all, she was carrying his baby. Something that they had created out of love.

"I really don't feel all that gorgeous" Rory said as she looked up at him with her stunning blue eyes. Her eyes always captivated Logan and they had lost none of their sparkle.

"Well let me tell you something Mrs Huntzberger…" Logan said as he leaned down and kissed her gently yet passionately on the lips. "You are so unbelievably beautiful right now."

"Logan…" Rory sighed.

"Hey, you need to believe me, because it's true," he said as he looked into her eyes.

Rory bit her lip nervously before speaking. "Logan, do you still…"

"Whoa! Stop right there!" Logan said firmly as he interrupted Rory before she could go any further with what she was about to say. "If you're going to ask me whether I still find you attractive, then the answer to that question is yes, a million times yes. You are sexier now than you've ever been, And let me tell you something else, with you lying there in front of me like that, there are at least fifty incredibly inappropriate and hugely dirty things going through my mind right now about all the ways I would like to show you just how attractive I find you" he smiled. "And for the record, I intend to demonstrate each and every one of them…"

Rory smiled back at Logan and she couldn't help but giggle as he feathered the lightest trail of kisses down her neck and onto her collarbone. "You are absolute perfection, Rory. You're the only one that does it for me. You're the only one who ever will. You need to know that."

Just as Rory opened her mouth to protest a little more, Logan moved back to her mouth and kissed her with such passion that she almost felt like her breath had been taken away. It took her a moment or two to catch herself and regain her composure while their tongues softly and urgently exploring each other's mouths. There was no way that Rory could do anything other than respond to a kiss like that and she could start to feel herself becoming quickly aroused. But before she could get to into it, Logan pulled back from the kiss. There was a moment of disappointment before Rory felt Logan begin to kiss his way down her body. He gently passed over her full tummy as he continued to his way down to her thighs, keeping his hands busy all the time, lightly trailing his fingers over her breasts. Rory let out a soft moan, she needed to feel his touch.

"Is this what you want?" Logan whispered to her as he ever-so-softly ran the tip of his tongue slowly up the inside of her thigh, which made her take a sharp intake of breath as she skipped over to the other thigh. The anticipation was almost more than she could take.

Rory lay with her head tilted back and her eyes closed, just soaking up the sensation. "Yes…" she answered breathlessly. She loved the way he was touching her and she felt like she could quite happily lie there forever, just existing in this little bubble together.

Logan smiled and continued to gently lick his way upwards, nibbling the insides of her thigh as he went. Instinctively, Rory spread her legs wider for him and he reached up and put them over his shoulders so he could get positioned even closer to her. Finally, after much teasing, he gently moved his tongue where he knew that she wanted it the most. Gasping she tensed up from just that single touch, wanting more and of course, he willingly gave her more.

With his lips and tongue now completely focused on her most sensitive part, he gently ran a finger over her before sliding it down and tracing soft circles. Logan felt Rory inhale sharply as she softly bucked her hips against his mouth and finger before he brought it back up and slowly inserted it into her.

"Oh god Logan" she cried out loudly as he moved his finger around inside her.

Logan continued his loving assault on her as his finger moved in and out, Rory's hands now pressing his head firmly against her. He wanted so badly to be inside of her, he wanted nothing more than to ride out their pleasure together but this moment wasn't about him. All he needed and wanted to do in this moment was give her the pleasure, attention, and affection that she had so badly wanted and deserved.

"Oh!" Rory moaned loudly. She clasped her legs closed around Logan's head as she finally climaxed. Her legs relaxed from around him and fell off of his shoulders as she let out a deep satisfied sigh. After a few moments of seeing lights and stars and feeling like she was being completely bathed in pure pleasure, Rory came back to reality. "Wow, that was something else..." she said as she looked down at him.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it" he smiled as he propped himself up on his elbow and looked up at his wife.

"Come here..." Rory said as she tugged on him. She had her pleasure and now all she really wanted to do was take care of him. Logan crawled back up the bed to lay beside her. He leaned over and kissed her firmly. Rory could taste herself on his lips.

"As much as I would like this to continue, and I really really would believe me…" Logan said as he pretended to wipe the sweat from this brow "There is really no time for that now, unfortunately" he smirked as he kissed her again before pulling away.

Rory pouted "But…" she said. She wasn't happy about missing her turn to show him how she felt.

"No buts, come on we really do have to get ready, the car will be here soon, but don't worry, we'll finish this later" he whispered seductively in her ear as he pulled her up off the bed. "I'll make sure of it…"

* * *

 **A/N: Hey get this! I'm still alive! Sorry for going AWOL, it's been a really busy few weeks, all sorts of crazy stuff going on in my life but I am back. Thank you for all the messages of concern, I'm sorry I've not been able to reply to everything but it means a lot that I've been missed! I am back writing now, but it will probably take me a few days to get back into the full swing of it but I promise I will be updating this story in the next few days and I'm already planning the next one. I have missed you guys. Hope you're still reading now!**


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